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Lamellar crystallization of poly(trimethylene terephthalate)

Polymer Journal volume 55, pages 775–783 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

The dependence of lamellar thickness on the melting temperature and crystallization temperature and the crystallization temperature dependence of the growth rate for poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) were examined with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical microscopy. The melting temperature of the isothermally crystallized PTT lamellar stack structure was determined by X-ray measurements. The equilibrium melting temperature of PTT was determined to be 290.5 °C from the relationship between the melting temperature and the lamellar thickness. The relationships of supercooling to the lamellar thickness and the growth rate were analyzed. The excess thickness δl = 7.1 Å was obtained from the data provided above for the crystallization temperature, Tc = 173.7 °C. The temperature dependence of the lamellar thickness below Tc = 173.7 °C suggested crystallization through a mesophase. The temperature dependence of the growth rate was explained by secondary nucleation theory over a wide crystallization temperature range.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant No. JP 22K03548 (TK). The X-ray measurements were performed at BL-40B2 and BL-40XU of SPring-8 with the approval of the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) (Proposal Nos. 2014B1509, 2015B1192, 2017A1679, 2017B1119, 2017B1719, 2019B1794, 2020A1113, 2020A1078, and 2021A1413). The authors wish to acknowledge Dr Hideki Miyaji and Dr Teppei Yoshida of Kyoto University and Dr Ken Taguchi of Hiroshima Univ. for discussing the experimental results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Interdisciplinary Environment, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshidanihonmatsu-cho, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Daisuke Tadokoro, Takashi Konishi & Yoshihisa Miyamoto

  2. Department of Physics, Ritsumeikan University, Noji-Higashi 1-1-1, Kusatsu, 525-8577, Japan

    Koji Fukao

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  1. Daisuke Tadokoro
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Correspondence to Daisuke Tadokoro.

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Tadokoro, D., Konishi, T., Fukao, K. et al. Lamellar crystallization of poly(trimethylene terephthalate). Polym J 55, 775–783 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-023-00777-6

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