Polymer crystallization under high cooling rate and pressure: A step towards polymer processing conditions

Even if many efforts have been spent on the explanation of the mechanisms involved during the polymer crystallization in typical industrial processing conditions, they are still only partially understood. Up to now, due to the remarkable experimental difficulties, in literature only few systematic works have been focused on the effect of high cooling rates and/or solidification pressure on the mechanical and physical properties of the semi-crystalline polymers. In this work, we present two experimental apparatuses, designed and assembled with the aim of obtaining polymer samples under controlled temperature and pressure histories. High cooling rates and pressure, comparable with those experienced by the polymer during industrial processes, were attained in order to produce polymer samples with different morphologies. Exemplar results obtained with Syndiotactic Polystyrene (sPS) show that high cooling rates as well as external pressure are important factors for inducing changes in crystalline polymeric structures.