Fast scanning calorimetry [1] becomes more and more important because an increasing number of materials are created or used far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Fast scanning, especially on cooling, allows for the in situ investigation of structure formation, which is of particular interest in a wide range of materials like polymers [2-4], metals [5], and pharmaceuticals [6] to name a few. Polyethylene is one of the most common industrially important plastics. Fast scanning calorimetry becomes an indispensable tool for its characterization. Due to the wide dynamic range, tiny samples and the possibility of extremely fast heat treatments, it can be vastly used for the investigation of the kinetics of various processes e.g. melting, crystallization, crosslinking and degradation.Known as extremely fast crystallizing material, PE is very hard to supercool seriously under normal conditions. Fast scanning calorimetry offers the possibility to study polyethylene crystallization under processing relevant cooling rates.In this work we show the capabilities of fast scanning calorimetry for investigation of different industrial PE resins crystallization kinetics under controlled cooling up to 2,000,000 K/s and successive reheating for comparison. REFERENCES 1.  Zhuravlev, E. and C. Schick, Fast scanning power compensated differential scanning nano-calorimeter: 1. The device. Thermochimica Acta, 2010. 505(1-2): p. 1-13.2.  Zhuravlev, E., J.W.P. Schmelzer, B. Wunderlich and C. Schick, Kinetics of nucleation and crystallization in poly(epsilon caprolactone) (PCL) Polymer, 2011. 52: p. 1983-1997.3.  Mileva, M., R. Androsch, E. Zhuravlev, C. Schick, et al., Homogeneous nucleation and mesophase formation in glassy isotactic polypropylene. Polymer, 2012. 53: p. 277-282.4.  Bosq, N., N. Guigo, E. Zhuravlev and N. Sbirrazzuoli, Nonisothermal Crystallization of Polytetrafluoroethylene in a Wide Range of Cooling Rates. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2013. 117(12): p. 3407-3415.5.  Yang, B., A.S. Abyzov, E. Zhuravlev, Y. Gao, et al., Size and rate dependence of crystal nucleation in single tin drops by fast scanning calorimetry. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2013. 138(5): p. 054501-5.6.  Guns, S., P. Kayaert, M.J. A., V.H. Jan, et al., Characterization of the copolymer poly(ethyleneglycol-g-vinylalcohol) as a potential carrier in the formulation of solid dispersions. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 2010. 74: p. 239-247.

Fast scanning calorimetry of polyethylene

247th National Meeting (2014)

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