CRYSTALLIZATION OF POLYMER MELTS UNDER FAST COOLING .2. HIGH-PURITY IPP

Samples of a high-purity isotactic polypropylene (iPP) were quenched from the melt so as to monitor cooling history. A continuous variation of morphology and crystal structure was obtained with cooling rate. This is discussed in relation to sample thermal history evidencing that cooling history relevant to quenched samples is in the neighborhood of 90-degrees-C. In particular the samples are essentially mesomorphic when at this temperature cooling rates larger than 80-degrees-C/s were adopted, while below a few tens of degrees-C/s only alpha-monocline form is obtained. Densities of quenched samples were compared with predictions of an isokinetic extrapolation of Avrami model of polymer crystallization kinetics.