On permanent cilia and segregation in the crystallization of binary blends of monodisperse n-alkanes

The isothermal crystallization kinetics and morphology have been investigated for a series of dilute binary blends using six monodisperse n-alkanes as guest in C162H326 as host. Two patterns of behaviour were observed. Guest molecules shorter than the host segregate as a separate population causing growth rates to become both reduced and non-linear. Morphologies are then noticeably less spherulitic than the host with less divergence between adjacent dominant lamellae but exhibiting no additional splaying at zero supercooling. By contrast, those blends with an n-alkane longer than the host co-crystallize (producing permanent cilia of controlled length) with a constant, but reduced, isothermal lamellar growth rate. Textures are now more spherulitic than the host, with additional splaying of an amount directly proportional to the number of permanent cilia and increasing with their length. The intercepts and slopes of plots of splaying data against supercooling are consistently related to permanent cilia plus inclined packing of initially rough lamellar surfaces and transient ciliation, respectively. The underlying causes of spherulitic growth for long molecules are thereby further confirmed and clarified. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.