Correlation between crystallization kinetics and microdomain morphology in block copolymer blends exhibiting confined crystallization

Correlation between crystallization kinetics and microdomain morphology in block copolymer blends exhibiting confined crystallization was discussed. The PB phase in a PEO-b-PB/PB blend system was crosslinked with a photocrosslinking reaction so that the melt morphology was effectively preserved on crystallization of the PEO blocks. Small angle X-ray scattering showed that microdomain structures in the melt were retained after crystallization. Homogeneous nucleation-controlled crystallization was also demonstrated in the isothermal crystallization study that showed that the crystallinity developments followed a exponential rule not encountered in the conventional spherulitic crystallization of homopolymers.