Order and Dielectric Relaxation During
Polymer Crystallization
Aurora Nogales, Tiberio A. Ezquerra, Michelina Soccio,
and Marianella Hernández
Abstract In the recent years Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS) has been
shown to be a powerful technique to investigate crystallization in complex fluids
including liquids and polymers. Particularly attractive is when scattering and diffraction experiments are combined with dielectric spectroscopy during crystallization
in real-time. In this chapter we will review the application of BDS to the study
of polymer crystallization emphasizing those aspects related to the combination of
X-ray scattering techniques, rendering information about the crystalline phase, with
BDS providing information about the amorphous phase dynamics. In addition, we
will show as well that both the α-relaxation and the β-relaxation can be used for
probing polymer crystallization especially when they appear simultaneously and
well resolved in the experimental frequency window. Although most of the applications of BDS to polymer crystallization involve thermal treatments we will show
that BDS can be also used when other magnitudes like pressure, shear or strain are
involved in the crystallization process.
Keywords Real time crystallization · Broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) ·
Natural rubber · Strain induced crystallization
A. Nogales (B) · T. A. Ezquerra
Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, IEM-CSIC, Serrano 121, Madrid 28006, Spain
e-mail: emnogales@iem.cfmac.csic.es
T. A. Ezquerra
e-mail: t.ezquerra@csic.es
M. Soccio
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Chimica, Ambientale e dei Materiali, Universitá di Bologna,
Via Terracini 28, Bologna 40131, Italy
e-mail: m.soccio@unibo.it
M. Hernández
Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Polímeros, ICTP-CSIC, Juan de la Cierva 3, Madrid 28006,
Spain
e-mail: marherna@ictp.csic.es
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
T. A. Ezquerra and A. Nogales (eds.), Crystallization as Studied
by Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy, Advances in Dielectrics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56186-4_8
195
Polymer Crystallization
Aurora Nogales, Tiberio A. Ezquerra, Michelina Soccio,
and Marianella Hernández
Abstract In the recent years Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS) has been
shown to be a powerful technique to investigate crystallization in complex fluids
including liquids and polymers. Particularly attractive is when scattering and diffraction experiments are combined with dielectric spectroscopy during crystallization
in real-time. In this chapter we will review the application of BDS to the study
of polymer crystallization emphasizing those aspects related to the combination of
X-ray scattering techniques, rendering information about the crystalline phase, with
BDS providing information about the amorphous phase dynamics. In addition, we
will show as well that both the α-relaxation and the β-relaxation can be used for
probing polymer crystallization especially when they appear simultaneously and
well resolved in the experimental frequency window. Although most of the applications of BDS to polymer crystallization involve thermal treatments we will show
that BDS can be also used when other magnitudes like pressure, shear or strain are
involved in the crystallization process.
Keywords Real time crystallization · Broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) ·
Natural rubber · Strain induced crystallization
A. Nogales (B) · T. A. Ezquerra
Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, IEM-CSIC, Serrano 121, Madrid 28006, Spain
e-mail: emnogales@iem.cfmac.csic.es
T. A. Ezquerra
e-mail: t.ezquerra@csic.es
M. Soccio
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Chimica, Ambientale e dei Materiali, Universitá di Bologna,
Via Terracini 28, Bologna 40131, Italy
e-mail: m.soccio@unibo.it
M. Hernández
Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Polímeros, ICTP-CSIC, Juan de la Cierva 3, Madrid 28006,
Spain
e-mail: marherna@ictp.csic.es
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
T. A. Ezquerra and A. Nogales (eds.), Crystallization as Studied
by Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy, Advances in Dielectrics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56186-4_8
195