Yan-ling HU, Xue-lian HE, Bo-ping LIU. Effect of Short-chain Branching on the Crystallization Process of Bimodal Polyethylene: Molecular Dynamics Simulation. [J]. Polymer Bulletin 33(8):55-66(2020)
DOI:
Yan-ling HU, Xue-lian HE, Bo-ping LIU. Effect of Short-chain Branching on the Crystallization Process of Bimodal Polyethylene: Molecular Dynamics Simulation. [J]. Polymer Bulletin 33(8):55-66(2020) DOI: 10.14028/j.cnki.1003-3726.2020.08.006.
Effect of Short-chain Branching on the Crystallization Process of Bimodal Polyethylene: Molecular Dynamics Simulation
Molecular dynamics simulations were conducted on bimodal polyethylene (BPE) in order to reveal the molecular mechanism of short-chain branching (SCB)
especially the effects of branch content (BC)
short-chain branching distribution(SCBD) and methylene sequence length (MSL) on BPE crystallization. This paper built two types of BPE models which were closer to the normal industrial BPE: SCBs evenly distributed on the long chain or on the short chains.
Tran-rich
phenomenon was observed during the early stage of crystallization. SCB placed on the long chain provoke a delay to the formation of precursor during the induction period as compared with the case of SCB placed on the short chains. The crystallization mechanism of BPE was dependent on the BC. When BC was lower than 5SCB/1000C
the crystallization state was a competitive state of nucleation process and crystal growth process. However
when BC was higher than 5SCB/ 1000C
the crystallization state was a crystal growth controlled state. The
trans
state population of BPE models was increased with the increase of MSL. Above 5 SCB/1000C
BPE models with SCB incorporated in the short chains show higher
trans
state population as compared with those with SCB incorporated in the long chain.