Abstract
Calorimetric studies of the crystallization behavior of physically and chemically crosslinked semicrystalline polymer, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are presented. Physical crosslinks are introduced either via entanglements in high-molecular-weight PDMS, or by anchoring chain ends to rigid polyethylene oxide (PEO) endblocks in a PEO-b-PDMS-b-PEO triblock copolymer. Chemical end-linking of di-vinyl PDMS chains results in the formation of a crosslinked network. Comparison of the thermograms obtained for each of these systems at constant cooling/heating rates with their noncrosslinked analogues indicates that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the different types of crosslinks result in an increased crystallization tendency. We suggest that this effect is a manifestation of the enhancement of local ordering together with reduced dynamics as compared to the non-crosslinked melt.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 390-396 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | EPL |
Volume | 60 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Nov 2002 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy