Diversification of spherulite patterns in poly(ethylene succinate) crystallized with strongly interacting poly(4-vinyl phenol)

Hikmatun Ni'Mah, Eamor M. Woo*, Siti Nurkhamidah

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Poly(ethylene succinate) (PESu) blend with amorphous poly(vinyl phenol) (PVPh) in thin films were investigated on the crystalline spherulites patterns and crystalline lamellar arrangements by using polarized optical microscopic (POM) and atomic-force microscopy (AFM). A total of nine different types of crystalline morphology were identified in the PESu/PVPh blend with amorphous contents from 10 to 35 wt.% and T c = 40-70 C in ultra-thin film thickness. Multiple types of PESu crystalline morphology at the same crystallization temperature (T c ) are never seen in neat PESu, but only occur in PESu/PVPh blend with amorphous PVPh higher than 20 wt.%. Crystalline morphology diagrams are summarized to display various spherulite types in the PESu/PVPh blend confined in thin films as a function of crystallization temperature and blend composition. Crystallization temperature, thickness/space confinement, and presence of interacting amorphous PVPh are the main factors for multiple types of spherulites in the blends, partly due to strong interactions via hydrogen bonding between PESu and PVPh and likely extra nucleation capacity from the diffusion interfaces. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Original languageEnglish
Article number339
JournalJournal of Polymer Research
Volume21
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2014

Keywords

  • Lamellae assembly
  • Optical birefringence
  • Poly(4-vinyl phenol)
  • Poly(ethylene succinate)
  • Spherulites

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