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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Ethylene Polymerizations Using Parallel Pressure Reactors and a Kinetic Analysis of Chain Transfer Polymerization
Published on: November 27, 2015
Distribution kinetics of polymer crystallization and the Avrami equation
Jiao Yang1, Benjamin J McCoy, Giridhar Madras
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA.
Abstract:
Cluster distribution kinetics is adopted to explore the kinetics of polymer crystallization. Population balance equations based on crystal size distribution and concentration of amorphous polymer segments are solved numerically and the related dynamic moment equations are also solved. The model accounts for heterogeneous or homogeneous nucleation and crystal growth. Homogeneous nucleation rates follow the classical surface-energy nucleation theory. Different mass dependences of growth and dissociation rate coefficients are proposed to investigate the fundamental features of nucleation and crystal growth. A comparison of moment solutions with numerical solutions examines the validity of the model. The proposed distribution kinetics model provides a different interpretation of the familiar Avrami equation.
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