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Updated: Oct 7, 2025

On-Chip Crystallization and Large-Scale Serial Diffraction at Room Temperature
Published on: March 11, 2022
Competition between crystal growth and intracrystalline chain diffusion determines the lamellar thickness in
Martha Schulz1, Mareen Schäfer1, Kay Saalwächter2
1Institut für Physik, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 06099, Halle, Germany.
Abstract:
The non-equilibrium thickness of lamellar crystals in semicrystalline polymers varies significantly between different polymer systems and depends on the crystallization temperature Tc. There is currently no consensus on the mechanism of thickness selection. Previous work has highlighted the decisive role of intracrystalline chain diffusion (ICD) in special cases, but a systematic dependence of lamellar thickness on relevant timescales such as that of ICD and stem attachment has not yet been established. Studying the morphology by small-angle X-ray scattering and the two timescales by NMR methods and polarization microscopy respectively, we here present data on poly(oxymethylene), a case with relatively slow ICD. It fills the gap between previously studied cases of absent and fast ICD, enabling us to establish a quantitative dependence of lamellar thickness on the competition between the noted timescales.
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