Amorphous-crystalline PSnPEOn heteroarm star copolymers: Crystallinity and crystallization kinetics

Abstract

The crystallization behavior and kinetics of poly-(ethylene oxide) in polystyrene/poly(ethylene oxide) heteroarm star copolymers were studied by differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy. A comparison between star and linear amorphous-crystalline block copolymers showed that the macromolecular architecture is an important factor affecting crystallinity. The following points were observed: the equilibrium melting point is higher in the star copolymers, the crystallinity reduces as the number of arms increases, leading to smaller and ill-defined spherulites, and crystallization proceeds faster in linear copolymers at low supercooling.