Isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of MC nylon and polyazomethine/MC nylon composites

Abstract

AbstractCrystallization kinetics of MC nylon (PA6) and polyazomethine (PAM)/MC nylon (PAM/PA6) both have been isothermally and nonisothermally investigated by different scanning calorimetry (DSC). Two stages of crystallization are observed, including primary crystallization and secondary crystallization. The Avrami equation and Mo's modified method can describe the primary stage of isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization of PA6 and PAM/PA6 composite, respectively. In the isothermal crystallization process, the values of the Avrami exponent are obtained, which range from 1.70 to 3.28, indicating an average contribution of simultaneous occurrence of various types of nucleation and growth of crystallization. The equilibrium melting point of PA6 is enhanced with the addition of a small amount of rigid rod polymer chains (PAM). In the nonisothermal crystallization process, we obtain a convenient method to analyze the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of PA6 and PAM/PA6 composites by using Mo's method combined with the Avrami and Ozawa equations. In the meanwhile, the activation energies are determined to be −306.62 and −414.81 KJ/mol for PA6 and PAM/PA6 (5 wt %) composite in nonisothermal crystallization process from the Kissinger method. Analyzing the crystallization half‐time of isothermal and nonisothermal conditions, the over rate of crystallization is increased significantly in samples with a small content of PAM, which seems to result from the increased nucleation density due to the presence of PAM rigid rod chain polymer. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 2844–2855, 2004