Nagarajan Selvaraj, Chang Chia-I, Lin I-Chuan, Chen Yu-Syuan, Su Chean-Cheng, Lee Li-Ting, Woo Eamor M
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701-01, Taiwan.
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung 811726, Taiwan.
Polymers (Basel). 2025 Jul 26;17(15):2040. doi: 10.3390/polym17152040.
In this study, growth mechanisms are proposed to understand how banded dendritic crystal aggregates in poly(1,4-butylene adipate) (PBA) transform into straight dendrites upon dilution with a large quantity of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) (25-90 wt.%). In growth packing, crystal plates are deformed in numerous ways, such as bending, scrolling, and twisting in self-assembly, into final aggregated morphologies of periodic bands or straight dendrites. Diluting PBA with a significant amount of PEO uncovers intricate periodic banded assemblies, facilitating better structural analysis. Both circularly banded and straight dendritic PBA aggregates have similar basic lamellar patterns. In straight dendritic PBA spherulites, crystal plates can twist from edge-on to flat-on, similar to those in ring-banded spherulites. Therefore, twists-whether continuous or discontinuous-are not limited to the conventional models proposed for classical periodic-banded spherulites. Thus, it would not be universally accurate to claim that the periodic circular bands observed in polymers or small-molecule compounds are caused by continuous lamellar helix twists. Straight dendrites, which do not exhibit optical bands, may also involve alternate crystal twists or scrolls during growth. Iridescence tests are used to compare the differences in crystal assemblies of straight dendrites vs. circularly banded PBA crystals.
在本研究中,我们提出了生长机制,以了解聚己二酸丁二醇酯(PBA)中的带状树枝状晶体聚集体在大量聚环氧乙烷(PEO)(25 - 90 wt.%)稀释后如何转变为直树枝晶。在生长堆积过程中,晶体片层会以多种方式变形,例如在自组装过程中弯曲、卷曲和扭曲,形成周期性条带或直树枝晶的最终聚集形态。用大量PEO稀释PBA会揭示出复杂的周期性条带组装,便于进行更好的结构分析。圆形条带状和直树枝状PBA聚集体都具有相似的基本片层图案。在直树枝状PBA球晶中,晶体片层可以从边缘取向扭曲为平面取向,类似于环带状球晶中的情况。因此,扭曲——无论是连续的还是不连续的——并不局限于为经典周期性条带球晶提出的传统模型。因此,声称在聚合物或小分子化合物中观察到的周期性圆形条带是由连续的片层螺旋扭曲引起的,这并不普遍准确。不显示光学条带的直树枝晶在生长过程中也可能涉及交替的晶体扭曲或卷曲。使用虹彩测试来比较直树枝晶与圆形条带状PBA晶体的晶体组装差异。