Power law of nucleation rate of folded-chain single crystals of polyethylene

The number-average molecular weight (Mn) dependence of the primary nucleation rate (I) of polyethylene (PE) folded-chain single crystals was studied in the ordered phase. We observed that the Mn dependence of I is mainly controlled by the diffusion process of polymer chains within the interface between a nucleus and the melt and/or within the nucleus. The results show that I decreases with increasing Mn and follows a power law I∝Mn−2.3 for the ordered phase. It is named the power law of the nucleation rate. In a previous article we showed that for the disordered phase I∝Mn−1. In this article, we concluded that I decreases with increasing Mn and follows a universal power law, I∝Mn−H for both ordered and disordered phases. The power H depends on the degree of order of the crystalline phase, which is related to the morphology.