Molecular simulation of crystal growth in alkane and polyethylene melts

Molecular simulation has become a very powerful tool for understanding the process of polymer crystallization. By using carefully constructed simulations, one can independently observe the two phenomena responsible for melt crystallization: nucleation and growth. This research focuses on modeling the growth process using potentials that are well-parameterized for alkanes and polyethylene. In experiment and modeling of the kinetics of alkane crystallization, focus has been concentrated on growth rates very near the melting temperature, where the growth of these systems is optically observable. In this temperature range near .., diffusion is not a limiting factor, which has led to theory that models the thermodynamic driving force and its effect on kinetics. Phenomenologically, one observes a maximum growth rate at a temperature intermediate between the glass transition temperature ... and the melt temperature ... This arises as a competition between a thermodynamic driving force towards crystal growth, associated with locking chains into crystallographic registry and the ability of chains to diffuse to the new layer and rearrange themselves conformationally to satisfy the restrictions of crystal symmetry. The thermodynamic driving force is rate limiting at high temperatures, while melt mobility is rate limiting at low temperatures. Growth rates are of interest to the polymer processing community, who require accurate crystallization kinetic data over the entire temperature range, in order to predict solidification under process conditions and thus final fiber properties.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Waheed, Numan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gregory C. Rutledge.

• Chemical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32324

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/32324