Molecular basis of the shish-kebab morphology in polymer crystallization.
In the rich and long-standing literature on the flow-induced formation of oriented precursors to polymer crystallization, it is often asserted that the longest, most extended chains are the dominant molecular species in the "shish" of the "shish-kebab" formation. We performed a critical examination of this widely held view, using deuterium labeling to distinguish different chain lengths within an overall distribution. Small-angle neutron-scattering patterns of the differently labeled materials showed that long chains are not overrepresented in the shish relative to their concentration in the material as a whole. We observed that the longest chains play a catalytic role, recruiting other chains adjacent to them into formation of the shish.
Kimata
Shuichi
S
Petrochemicals Research Laboratory, Sumitomo Chemical, 2-1 Kitasode, Sodegaura, Chiba 299-0295, Japan.
Sakurai
Takashi
T
Nozue
Yoshinobu
Y
Kasahara
Tatsuya
T
Yamaguchi
Noboru
N
Karino
Takeshi
T
Shibayama
Mitsuhiro
M
Kornfield
Julia A
JA