Crystallization kinetics and applications of polymer nanocomposites: A review

摘要

The addition of nanoparticles to polymers allows the modification of the polymers physical properties as well as the implementation of new unique features in the polymer matrix. The isothermal and non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of different polymeric materialsanoparticles nanocomposites is covered in this review article. Isothermal and non isothermal crystallization of the blend was investigated by several authors using differential scanning calorimetery (DSC). The kinetics of crystallization were studied using different methods, namely the Avrami, Ozawa, Tobin and Mo's method etc. to calculate activation energies and kinetic rate constants. Among all the models Avrami analysis is the most popular as it is found to be more accurate and applicable. Initially Avrami equation was applied only for primary stages of crystallization and was used to describe isothermal crystallization only, but later it was modified for investigating non isothermal crystallizations also. Ozawa analysis was found to be rather inapplicable for some nanocomposites as this approach didn't consider secondary crystallization and dependency of fold length on temperature. Mo's analysis was also found to give satisfactory results. For the establishment of general framework the Lauritzen-Hoffman theory and its conclusions serve more for explaining several important observations regarding the crystallization behavior of flexible polymers.