Dissolution, crystallization and second dissolution traces of isotactic poly(propylene) have been obtained in a slow temperature ramp (3 K h-1) with the C80 Setaram calorimeter. Traces of phase-change, in presence of solvent, are comparable to traces without solvent. The change of enthalpy on heating or cooling, ∆Htotal, over the 40-170 °C temperature range, is the sum of two contributions, ∆HDSC and ∆Hnetwork. The change ∆HDSC is the usual heat obtained in a fast temperature ramp and ∆Hnetwork is associated with a physical network whose disordering is slow and subject to superheating due to strain. When dissolution is complete, ∆Htotal is equal to ∆H0, the heat of fusion of perfect crystals. The values of ∆Htota for nascent and recrystallized samples are compared. Dissolution is the tool to evaluate the quality of the crystals. The repartition of ∆Htotal, into the two endotherms, reflects the quality of crystals. The crystals grown more rapidly have a higher fraction of network crystals which are stable at high T in the solvents. A complete dissolution, i.e. a high temperature (170 °C or more) is necessary to obtain good crystals. The effect of concentration, polymer molecular weight and solvent quality on crystal growth is analyzed.
The Influence of Polymer Molecular Weight in Lamellar Gels Based on PEG-Lipids
