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Polymer Classification: Crystallinity

Polymer Classification: Crystallinity

Unlike ionic or small covalent molecules, polymers do not form crystalline solids due to the diffusion limitations of their long-chain structures. However, polymers contain microscopic crystalline domains separated by amorphous domains.
Crystalline domains are the regions where polymer chains are aligned in an orderly manner and held together in proximity by intermolecular forces. For example, chains in the crystalline domains of polyethylene and nylon are bound together by van der Waals...

Polymers: Molecular Weight Distribution

Polymers: Molecular Weight Distribution

For any given polymer, the weight average molecular weight (Mw) is higher than, if not equal to, the number average molecular weight (Mn). The only situation in which the weight average molecular weight and the number average molecular weight are equal is when a polymer consists only of chains with equal molecular weight. However, this never happens in a synthetic polymer, since it is difficult to control the polymerization process up to a molecular level with accuracy to a hundred percent.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 23, 2025

Advanced Compositional Analysis of Nanoparticle-polymer Composites Using Direct Fluorescence Imaging

Advanced Compositional Analysis of Nanoparticle-polymer Composites Using Direct Fluorescence Imaging

Published on: July 19, 2016

Quantifying Nanoparticle Ordering Induced by Polymer Crystallization.

Alejandro A Krauskopf¹, Andrew M Jimenez¹, Abdullah S Altorbaq¹

¹Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, United States.

|August 24, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Polymer crystallization guides nanoparticles (NPs) into amorphous domains. Increasing crystallization temperature enhances NP packing within these domains, forming monolayers and then multilayers.

Keywords:

X-ray scattering crystallization nanocomposites nanoparticles polymers silica

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Controlled Synthesis and Fluorescence Tracking of Highly Uniform PolyN-isopropylacrylamide Microgels

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Published on: September 8, 2016

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Polymer Science
Nanotechnology

Background:

Polymer crystallization can segregate nanoparticles (NPs) into amorphous domains within semicrystalline morphologies.
This phenomenon occurs when NP diffusion is faster than crystal growth, leading to NP rejection by growing crystals.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantitatively characterize the ordered state of NPs within polymer amorphous domains.
To develop a correlation function analysis for small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data to analyze NP distribution.

Main Methods:

Utilized small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data analysis with correlation functions.
Investigated the effect of crystallization temperature (Tc) on nanoparticle distribution and polymer morphology.
Analyzed the relationship between spherulitic growth rate, NP diffusion, and NP expulsion from crystals.

Main Results:

Demonstrated that NPs are fully expelled from crystals when the spherulitic growth rate is slower than NP diffusion.
Observed an increase in the long period (r_cc) with rising Tc, leading to higher NP concentration per amorphous domain.
Confirmed that apparent scattering contrast scales linearly with r_cc, indicating enhanced NP packing.

Conclusions:

Nanoparticles exhibit increased packing efficiency in the interlamellar zones with rising Tc, forming monolayers and subsequently multilayers.
The developed SAXS correlation function analysis effectively describes NP ordering driven by polymer crystallization.
This study provides a quantitative method to understand nanoparticle self-assembly within semicrystalline polymers.