1
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Nie Y, Zhao Y, Matsuba G, Hu W. Shish-kebab crystallites initiated by shear fracture in bulk polymers: 2. Crystallization on shearing. POLYMER 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2023.125909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
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2
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Hu W. Personal Perspective on Strain-Induced Polymer Crystallization. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:822-827. [PMID: 36683336 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c07085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Semicrystalline polymer materials are commonly strong yet tough after processed through fiber spinning, film stretching (or blowing), and plastic molding (or foaming), which are fundamentally related with strain-induced crystallization. This paper provides a personal perspective on thermodynamics and kinetics aspects of strain-induced polymer crystallization, mainly based on the author's recent research experience. The thermodynamic studies include homopolymers, random copolymers, solution polymers, and blend polymers. The kinetic studies cover three sequential crystallization stages, i.e., crystal nucleation, crystal growth, and postgrowth. The thermodynamic driving forces join with the kinetic barriers to determine the crystal nucleation mechanisms and the structure evolution at the molecular level, which yield unique polymer crystal morphologies from lamellar crystals to shish-kebab crystals and eventually fibril crystals. The resulting semicrystalline structures were discussed with their implications for the mechanical properties of products. Some future studies were briefly proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenbing Hu
- Department of Polymer Science, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination Chemistry, Nanjing University, 210023 Nanjing, China
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3
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Guo Y, Luo W, Zhang J, Hu W. Dynamic Monte Carlo Simulations of Strain-Induced Crystallization in Multiblock Copolymers: Effects of Asymmetric Block Rigidity. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:10768-10775. [PMID: 36502404 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c06827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Thermoplastic elastomers such as polyether-b-polyamides (or -polyesters), polyurethanes (or with -urea) and olefin block copolymers are commonly processed through a stretching process for achieving high elasticity and high toughness in their products, while the size diversity of semicrystalline microdomains of hard blocks appears as the key factor. By means of dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of strain-induced crystallization of locally concentrated and diluted crystallizable blocks alternatingly connected with noncrystallizable blocks in diblock and tetrablock copolymers, we have studied the size diversity of semicrystalline microdomains presumably raised by local concentration fluctuations of crystallizable blocks and found the dilution effects to persist from diblock to tetrablock copolymers. In the present work, we continued to study the effects of asymmetric block rigidity between crystallizable and noncrystallizable blocks on strain-induced crystallization of concentrated and diluted crystallizable blocks in diblock copolymers. The results showed that when crystallizable blocks hold higher thermodynamic rigidity than noncrystallizable blocks, the large semicrystalline domains become larger and the small semicrystalline domains become more, enhancing their size diversity. However, asymmetric kinetic rigidity has little effect. Our observations imply that industrial stretching processing could enhance the toughness of semicrystalline thermoplastic elastomers when their crystallizable blocks hold a higher thermodynamic rigidity relative to noncrystallizable blocks. Our integrated approach paved the way for a better understanding of the structure-property relationship in thermoplastic elastomers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaqian Guo
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing210023, China
| | - Wen Luo
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing210023, China
| | - Jiang Zhang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing210023, China
| | - Wenbing Hu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing210023, China
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4
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Guo Y, Luo W, Zhang J, Hu W. Dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of strain-induced crystallization in multiblock copolymers: Effects of microphase separation. POLYMER 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2022.125512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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5
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Nie C, Peng F, Cao R, Cui K, Sheng J, Chen W, Li L. Recent progress in flow‐induced polymer crystallization. JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/pol.20220330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Cui Nie
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Film, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry University of Science and Technology of China Hefei China
| | - Fan Peng
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Film, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry University of Science and Technology of China Hefei China
| | - Renkuan Cao
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Film, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry University of Science and Technology of China Hefei China
| | - Kunpeng Cui
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Film University of Science and Technology of China Hefei China
| | - Junfang Sheng
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Film, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry University of Science and Technology of China Hefei China
| | - Wei Chen
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Film, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry University of Science and Technology of China Hefei China
| | - Liangbin Li
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Film, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry University of Science and Technology of China Hefei China
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6
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Guo Y, Wang J, Luo W, Hu W. Dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of strain-induced crystallization in multiblock copolymers: effects of dilution. SOFT MATTER 2022; 18:3376-3383. [PMID: 35416236 DOI: 10.1039/d2sm00193d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Multiblock copolymers containing alternating semicrystalline and molten blocks are good thermoplastic elastomers. Their crystallization in the stretching process is however complicated by the dilution effects, prior microphase separation and contrast chain rigidity of the molten blocks. We designed our systematic investigation with three integrated steps, and herein, as the first step, we considered only the dilution effects without prior microphase separation and contrast chain rigidity. We compared two extreme situations of local dilution separately corresponding to parallel-posited and antiparallel-posited block copolymers upon strain-induced crystallization. Our dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of diblock and tetrablock copolymers demonstrated that the stretching introduces a constraint on the diffusion of locally posited crystallizable blocks along the stretching direction for crystallization and thus enhances the dilution effects to result in a higher diversity in crystal stabilities. We observed that the strain-induced crystallization of parallel-posited copolymers behaved like the melt crystallization of homopolymers; in contrast, the strain-induced crystallization of antiparallel-posited copolymers yielded crystallites near the block junction, which are relatively small and less stable due to their local dilution suppressing their melting points. Similar to the case of spider dragline silks, two contrasting stabilities of crystallites in semicrystalline multiblock copolymers explain their good toughness. Our modeling approach paves the way toward a better understanding of the structure-property relationship in the semicrystalline thermoplastic elastomers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaqian Guo
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
| | - Jiping Wang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
| | - Wen Luo
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
| | - Wenbing Hu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
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7
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Luo W, Yu Y, Wang J, Hu W. Nascent structure memory erased in polymer stretching. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:144904. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0083952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Stretching of semicrystalline polymer materials is fundamentally important in their mechanical performance and industrial processing. By means of dynamic Monte Carlo simulations, we compared the parallel stretching processes between the initially bulk amorphous and semicrystalline polymers at various temperatures. In the early stage of stretching, semicrystalline polymers perform local and global melting-recrystallization behaviors at low and high temperatures, while the memory effects occur upon global melting-recrystallization at middle temperatures. However, the final crystallinities, crystalline bond orientations, chain-folding probabilities, residual stresses, and crystallite morphologies at high enough strains appear as the same at each temperature, irrelevant to the initially amorphous and semicrystalline polymers, indicating that the common post-growth melting-reorganization processes determine the final products. In addition, both final products harvest the highest crystallinities in the middle temperature region because the postgrowth stage yields the vast nuclei followed with less extent of crystal growth in the low temperature region and few nuclei followed with large extent of crystal growth in the high temperature region. Our observations imply that a large enough strain can effectively remove the thermal history of polymers, similar to the thermal treatment at a high enough temperature; therefore, the fracture strength of semicrystalline polymers depends upon their final structures in stretching, not related to their nascent semicrystalline structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen Luo
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Yihuan Yu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Jiping Wang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Wenbing Hu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordinate Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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8
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Qv CJ, Li W, Zhao RJ, Ma Z. Memory Effect of Crystallization in 1-Butene/α-olefin Copolymers. CHINESE JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10118-022-2660-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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10
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Sun M, Zhang J, Tang D, Pan J, Kong X. Directed self-assembly structure of a diblock copolymer with homopolymer-grafted particles. MOLECULAR SIMULATION 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/08927022.2018.1496247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Minna Sun
- Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
- School of Physics and Information Engineering, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, People's Republic of China
| | - Jinjun Zhang
- School of Physics and Information Engineering, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, People's Republic of China
| | - Dachun Tang
- School of Physics and Information Engineering, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, People's Republic of China
| | - Junxing Pan
- School of Physics and Information Engineering, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiangming Kong
- Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
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11
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Affiliation(s)
- Leire Sangroniz
- POLYMAT and Polymer Science and Technology Department, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Paseo Manuel de Lardizábal, 3, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Dario Cavallo
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genova, via Dodecaneso, 31, 16146 Genova, Italy
| | - Alejandro J. Müller
- POLYMAT and Polymer Science and Technology Department, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Paseo Manuel de Lardizábal, 3, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
- IKERBASQUE - Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
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12
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Gao R, Zhao L, Shao Y, Liu Z, He X, Liu B. Molecular dynamics study of polyethylene chain non-isothermal crystallisation: effects of chain length and branch structure. MOLECULAR SIMULATION 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/08927022.2019.1587759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rui Gao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Material Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
| | - Li Zhao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Material Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yunqi Shao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Material Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
| | - Zhen Liu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Material Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xuelian He
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Material Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
| | - Boping Liu
- College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China
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13
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Guan X, Wang J, Hu W. Monte Carlo Simulation of Strain-Enhanced Stereocomplex Polymer Crystallization. J Phys Chem B 2018; 122:10928-10933. [PMID: 30422656 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b07499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
We performed dynamic Monte Carlo simulations to investigate strain-induced polymer crystallization under separate enhancements of the driving forces for homocomponent and stereocomplex crystallization in the half-half symmetric racemic polymer blends. The results showed that the polymer strain significantly enhances the stereocomplex crystallization, in comparison to the parallel cases of template-induced crystal growth without any strain in the previous simulations. We attributed the results to the strain-induced polymer crystallization favoring intermolecular crystal nucleation at high temperatures, which benefits the stereocomplex crystallization. Our observations provided a molecular-level interpretation to the strain- or shear-enhanced stereocomplex crystallization in the racemic polylactide blends.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinchao Guan
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China
| | - Jiping Wang
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China
| | - Wenbing Hu
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China
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14
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Affiliation(s)
- Huachen Tao
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
| | - Feng Gao
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
| | - Huanhuan Gao
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
| | - Wenbing Hu
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China
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15
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Chen X, Qu C, Alamo RG. Effect of annealing time and molecular weight on melt memory of random ethylene 1‐butene copolymers. POLYM INT 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/pi.5586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Xuejian Chen
- Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering FAMU‐FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee FL USA
| | - Chen Qu
- Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering FAMU‐FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee FL USA
| | - Rufina G Alamo
- Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering FAMU‐FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee FL USA
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16
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Guan X, Wang Y, Wang J, Wu Y, Hu W. Effects of short-chain branches on strain-induced polymer crystallization. POLYM INT 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/pi.5570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Xinchao Guan
- State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Nanjing University; China
| | - Youhao Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Nanjing University; China
| | - Jiping Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Nanjing University; China
| | - Yixian Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering; Beijing University of Chemical Technology; Beijing China
| | - Wenbing Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Nanjing University; China
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17
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Nie Y, Zhao Y, Matsuba G, Hu W. Shish-Kebab Crystallites Initiated by Shear Fracture in Bulk Polymers. Macromolecules 2018. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.7b02357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yijing Nie
- Department of Polymer
Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry,
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, 210093 Nanjing, China
- Institute of Polymer
Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang 212013, China
| | - Yunfeng Zhao
- Department of Polymer
Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, Japan
| | - Go Matsuba
- Department of Polymer
Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-8510, Japan
| | - Wenbing Hu
- Department of Polymer
Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry,
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, 210093 Nanjing, China
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18
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Zha L, Zhang M, Li L, Hu W. Entropy-Driven Segregation and Its Competition with Crystal Nucleation in the Binary Blends of Stretched and Free Guest Polymers. J Phys Chem B 2016; 120:12988-12992. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b08399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Liyun Zha
- School
of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination
Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Miaomiao Zhang
- School
of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination
Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Liangbin Li
- Lab
of Soft Matter Chemistry, Chinese University of Science and Technology, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Wenbing Hu
- School
of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Lab of Coordination
Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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