Crystallization in Nano‐Confined Polymeric Systems

Sequential crystallization and morphology of triple crystalline biodegradable PEO-b-PCL-b-PLLA triblock terpolymers

“…Extensive research has been carried out on the crystallization of miscible or strongly segregated AB, ABA and ABC-type block copolymers and terpolymers with one or two crystallisable blocks. 2,[5][6][7][8][9][10] In contrast, the crystallization behaviour of triblock terpolymers with three crystallisable blocks is expected to be more complex and, to our knowledge, only three reports have been published dealing with terpolymers that contain three potentially crystallizable blocks.…”

“…29 On the other hand, the decrease in the crystallization temperature of PEO or PCL is a consequence of the restriction imposed by the previously crystallized PLLA that confines their crystallization. 14,29 In fact, a fractioned crystallization 4,6 phenomenon has been reported on PEO in some PEO-b-PLLA diblock copolymers when PEO content was 29 % or lower. 7,29 If the PEO content is below 20 %, this block is not able to crystallize.…”

“…Nevertheless, the crystallization temperature of the PEO block in both terpolymers is relatively high, a fact that could be due to the nucleating actions of both PLLA and PCL crystals. This means that the PEO block is not undergoing the classical crystallization in confined isolated domains, where typically crystallization temperatures can be depressed to values below -30 ºC, as nucleation changes from heterogeneous to homogeneous and dominates overall crystallization kinetics (see references 4,6,8 ).…”

Crystallization behavior of polyethylene/polystyrene AmBnmiktoarm star copolymers

“…The synthesis of block and star copolymers with semicrystalline components is an ideal tool to produce model polymers for the study of the nucleation and crystallization events as a function of their morphology and chemical topology . The relationship between the structure and properties of many semicrystalline block copolymers has been extensively studied and reviewed . However, only limited data are available on the crystallization of miktoarm star copolymers.…”

“…In a previous paper, we reported the comparison of the morphology, nucleation, and crystallization kinetics of the polycaprolactone component within (PCL 2 )‐ b ‐(PS 2 ) miktoarm star block copolymers versus PCL‐ b ‐PS linear diblock copolymers, at similar weight compositions. The expected higher stretching resistance of the arms in a miktoarm star block copolymer compared with analogous linear diblock copolymers was found to produce important morphological differences, as well as dramatic effects on the overall crystallization process …”