Melting behavior,isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of EPPE/mLLDPE blends

Melting behavior and crystallization kinetics of easy processing polyethylene (EPPE) and the blends of EPPE/mLLDPE were studied using differential scanning calorimetry at various crystallization temperature and cooling rates. The Avrami analysis was employed to describe the isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization process of pure polymers and their blends, and a method developed by Mo was applied for comparison. Kinetic parameters such as the Avrami exponent (n), the kinetic crystallization rate constant (k and k_c), the peak temperatures (T_p), and the half-time of crystallization (t_1/2), etc. were determined. The appearance of double melting peaks and the double crystallization peaks of the polymers showed that the main chain and the branches crystallize seperately, but the main chains of two polymers can crystallize together and mLLDPE act as nuclei while EPPE crystallizes. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008