Analysis of the influence of the injection molding process on the crystallization kinetics of a HDPE

Thermal analyses of microparts in high density polyethylene (HDPE) have shown that the specific processing conditions used in microinjection molding have irreversible consequences on the polymer morphology. This result has been demonstrated with the analysis of the non‐isothermal crystallization behavior of a HDPE with different thermal histories. The evolution of the absolute crystallinity has been analyzed with a relevant model able to separate the primary and secondary mechanisms all over the crystallization duration. This model has emphasized that the evolution of the primary crystallinity with time is different for the microparts compared to the conventional objects. These differences were attributed to variations of the crystallization mechanisms, especially within the nucleation phase, where a persistent melt memory effect of the former chains orientation/extension was assumed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44239.