Influence of reptation on localized diffusion in crystallizing polymers.
01 January 1987
Crystalline texture in polymer spherulites appears to be determined in part by interplay during solidification between interface morphology and the diffusion of species segregated at crystal growth fronts; these species are molecules of lower molecular weight (fractionation) or molecules of stereoirregular structure. Early discussions of this behavior were based upon assumption of a single diffusion coefficient in each case. However, it is known that because of reptation, each molecule in a polymer melt diffuses with a diffusion coefficient dependent upon its individual molecular weight. In this paper the influence of reptation upon concentration profiles and diffusion ranges is examined.