The structure and thermodynamic properties of atactic and isotactic acrylic and methacrylic polymers containing 16–18 carbon atoms in the n‐aliphatic side chains, and of copolymers of hexadecyl acrylate with isopropyl acrylate were studied by means of x‐ray and differential thermal analysis. The crystallization of branched acrylic and methacrylic polymers and of acrylic copolymers proceeds in the form of a hexagonal crystal, regardless of the configuration of the backbone chain. Methods of ordering branched macromolecules are proposed, and the melting points, heats and entropies of fusion determined. The role of flexibility of the backbone chains in ordering and the crystallization processes was determined. In the case of poly(n‐alkyl acrylates) the backbone chain is involved in the crystalline lattice; this is not the case in methacrylates and copolymers of hexadecyl acrylate with isopropyl acrylate. Some similarity was assumed between the structure of biopolymers and synthetic branched polymers.
In the present investigation X‐ray diffraction techniques, DSC and dynamic mechanical relaxation (DMR) methods have been employed to compare the structure and thermal behaviour of Kevlar (“DuPont”, USA) and Armos (Russia) fibers. Our recent studies have indicated that the non‐crystalline phase of copolyesters always contains LC smectic structure in addition to some part of the nematic LC mesophase. It turned out that the copolyamides also possess this interesting feature. Moreover, on heating of a semicrystalline copolyester always the second order phase transition from the crystalline state to condis mesophase has been observed, whereas in the case of copolyamides such a transition has the «virtual» character. As was established by other authors both polymers under study reveal the moisture content. The changes in wide angle X‐ray scattering of copolyamides under heat treatment were interpreted in terms of desorption of bound water and structural rearrangement in the plane perpendicular to the chain axis involving of the hydrogen bonding between neighboring macromolecules.
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