How temperatures affect the number of dislocations in polymer single crystals

Abstract

The influence of crystallization temperature (Tc) on the number of spiral growths on poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) single crystals, obtained by self-seeding method, was systematically studied. The studies show that the statistical average number of spiral growths formed on the PBS single crystals decays exponentially with respect to the Tc. Inspired by BCF (Bruton, Cabrera and Frank) theory and L-H (Lauritzen and Hoffman) theory, a thermodynamic model has been proposed, in which the origin of spiral growth was treated as a nucleation process. The model suggests that the nucleation rate of spiral growth depends on the inverse square of super-cooling degree, which predicted the density of spiral growth formed on lamellae, and was consistent with the experiments very well.