Heat Transport Analysis During Crystallization of Composites and Polymer Blends

This paper, within the framework of nucleation and growth of crystals, discusses the influence of heat propagation inside heterogeneous materials on the microstructure. As the thermal conductivity values of phases may be very different, the rate of crystallization and the morphology of polymer composites and blends may remarkably differ from those of neat matrices apparently crystallized under the same experimental conditions. Several morphological features inside blends and composites are shown to be originated by heat transfer anisotropy during solidification. Keywords: Polymers; composites; crystallization; microstructure; thermal conductivity;