A New Crystallization Kinetics Study of Polycarbonate Under High-Pressure Carbon Dioxide and Various Crystallinization Temperatures by Using Magnetic Suspension Balance

A new approach for researching the effects of induced crystallization of polycarbonate (PC) by pressurized supercritical CO2 using a magnetic suspension balance is described herein. Our study systematically investigated the effects of saturation temperature and pressure on crystallization kinetics and thermal behavior of crystallized PC. It was observed that either increasing the saturation pressure of CO2 or the crystallization temperature was effective in promoting the mobility of PC's molecular chains. Thermal behavior and crystallization rate were affected in the following manner: a higher PC molecular chain mobility increased the degree of crystallinity, the melting temperature, and the crystal growth rate. However, the crystal growth dimension changed from a three-dimensional to a one-dimensional configuration as the isothermal crystallization temperature was raised incrementally from 140 degrees C to 160 degrees C to 180 degrees C, resulting in an overall decrease in the crystallization rate. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 118: 2898-2903, 2010