title: Correlating polymer crystals via self-induced nucleation.
abstract: Crystallizable polymers often form multiple stacks of uniquely oriented lamellae, which have good registry despite being separated by amorphous fold surfaces. These correlations require multiple synchronized, yet unidentified, nucleation events. Here, we demonstrate that in thin films of isotactic polystyrene, the probability of generating correlated lamellae is controlled by the branched morphology of a single primary lamella. The nucleation density n(s) of secondary lamellae is found to be dependent on the width w of the branches of the primary lamella such that n(s) ∼ w(-2). This relation is independent of molecular weight, crystallization temperature, and film thickness. We propose a nucleation mechanism based on the insertion of polymers into a branched primary lamellar crystal.
authors: Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors: Hui
authors: H
authors: Zhang
authors: State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, 201620 Shanghai, China.
authors: Muhuo
authors: M
authors: Yu
authors: Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Zhang
authors: Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany and Freiburg Materials Research Center (FMF), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors: Renate
authors: R
authors: Reiter
authors: Freiburg Materials Research Center (FMF), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany and Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors: Maximilian
authors: M
authors: Vielhauer
authors: Freiburg Materials Research Center (FMF), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany and Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors: Rolf
authors: R
authors: Mülhaupt
authors: Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Materials Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, China.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Xu
authors: Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany and Freiburg Materials Research Center (FMF), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors: Günter
authors: G
authors: Reiter