Crystallization behavior of polymer blends

Abstract

Crystallization behaviors of polymer blends are reviewed. The crystallization of polymers is delayed in polymer blends by exclusion of non-crystalline components from the crystal growth front and crystals grow nonlinearly with crystallization time. Various crystalline morphologies are obtained by controlling the degree of exclusion in polymer/polymer, polymer/oligomer and polymer/carbon dioxide systems. On the other hand, the crystallization rate of polypropylene and poly(1-butene) was found to be drastically accelerated by blending the polyolefin with cyclodextrin inclusion complexes. In the blends with a two-phase region below the melting temperature, characteristic crystallization behavior occurs by competitive progress of phase separation and crystallization. Crystallization of polycarbonate was induced by the up-hill diffusion of the liquid-liquid phase separation via spinodal decomposition and connected spherulites were developed, for instance. © 2011, The Society of Polymer Science, Japan.