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A Unified Thermodynamic Model of Flow-induced Crystallization of Polymer

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Abstract

We propose a unified thermodynamic model of flow-induced crystallization of polymer (uFIC), which incorporates not only the conformational entropy reduction but also the contributions of flow-induced chain orientation, the interaction of ordered segments, and the free energy of crystal nucleus and crystal morphology. Specifically, it clarifies the determining parameters of the critical crystal nucleus size, and is able to account for the acceleration of nucleation, the emergence of precursor, different crystal morphologies and structures induced by flow. Based on the nucleation barrier under flow, we analyze at which condition precursor may occur and how flow affects the competition among different crystal forms such as orthorhombic and hexagonal phases of polyethylene. According to the uFIC model, the different crystal morphologies and structures in the flow-temperature space have been clarified, which give a good agreement with experiments of FIC.

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Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51890872 and 51633009) and the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFB0704200). The authors also appreciate the critical comments from Dr. Dong Liu (Mianyang), Dr. Nan Tian (Xian), Dr. Kunpeng Cui (Hokkaido) and Dr. Zhe Ma (Tianjin).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Film, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Cui Nie, Fan Peng, Ting-Yu Xu, Jun-Fang Sheng, Wei Chen & Liang-Bin Li

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  1. Cui Nie
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  2. Fan Peng
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Correspondence to Jun-Fang Sheng or Liang-Bin Li.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Nie, C., Peng, F., Xu, TY. et al. A Unified Thermodynamic Model of Flow-induced Crystallization of Polymer. Chin J Polym Sci 39, 1489–1495 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-021-2622-z

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