Simulated morphological landscape of polymer single crystals by phase field model

Abstract

The novel phase field model with the "polymer characteristic" was established based on a nonconserved spatiotemporal Ginzburg-Landau equation (TDGL model A). Especially, we relate the diffusion equation with the crystal growth faces of polymer single crystals. Namely, the diffusion equations are discretized according to the diffusion coefficient of every lattice site in various crystal growth faces and the shape of lattice is selected based on the real proportion of the unit cell dimensions. Spatiotemporal growth of syndiotactic polypropylene single crystals during isothermal crystallization has been investigated theoretically based on this phase field model. Two dimensional numerical calculations are performed to elucidate the faceted single crystal growth including square, rectangular, lozenge-shaped, and hexagonal single crystals. Our simulated patterns are in good agreement with the experimental morphologies, and the physical origin of polymer single crystal growth is discussed.