Thermal characterization of ethylene-vinil alcohol copolymers

Ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers have been extensively studied in view of their applications as, for example, in the food packaging industry.However, the fundamental calorimetric studies on these copolymers, cited in the literature, are quite rare (Spadaro '82, Acierno '83); moreover, quantitative studies on crystallization kinetics from the molten state have hitherto not been reported. This work presents a quantitative investigation of the thermal behaviour of ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers with different compositions. The kinetics of crystallization and the equilibrium melting points have also been studied.