Takao Ishinabe

Thermodynamic Stability and Melting of Crystals in a Bulk Polymer

A lattice theory is developed for a partially crystalline polymer on the assumption that an equilibrium between crystalline and noncrystalline regions is attained under a limited condition. The two extreme cases, where the noncrystalline part is exclusively composed of either chain loops or tie chains connecting different crystals, are treated by considering both intra- and interchain interactions along with the amorphous chain length distribution. The rise in the melting point of a bulk crystalline polymer on stretching is well explained by applying an appropriate criterion to it.