On the crystallization Kinetics in Natural Rubber
Soft Condensed Matter
2022-01-26 v1 Materials Science
Abstract
In this article, we introduce a framework to investigate the growth of nano-crystallites in a polymer matrix numerically. This framework combines the Flory theory of entropic elasticity with phase-field approaches commonly used to model crystal growth. We investigate in particular the growth kinetics of a crystallite in the presence of topological constraints such as entanglements or cross-links, and show that depending on the coupling between the topological constraints and the growth kinetics various structures can be observed: branched structures looking like spherulites or stable nano-crystallites as observed in strain-induced crystallization.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2201.09937,
title = {On the crystallization Kinetics in Natural Rubber},
author = {Rabia Laghmach and Nicolas Candau and Laurent Chazeau and Thierry Biben},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.09937},
year = {2022}
}