回顾了传统的高分子结晶成核与生长模型,指出了该模型在应用中遇到的一些问题;同时总结了Strobl根据近年小角X射线散射结果提出的高分子结晶新机理一中介相机理。介绍了Strobl等构建的热动力学图解对熔体、中介相和片晶的转变过程,阐述了各相间的平衡转变温度、潜在的转变热以及表面自由能,说明了处于熔体和晶体之间的中介相的热动力学性质是理解高分子结晶过程的重要依据。
Recently a debate about the initial crystallization process which has not been the hotspot for a long timesince the theory proposed by Hoffman-Lauritzen (LH) dominated the field arose again. For a long time the HoffmanLauritzen model was always confronted by criticism, and some of the points were taken up and led to modifications, but the foundation remained unchanged which deemed that before the nucleation and crystallization the system was uniform. In this article the classical nucleation and growth theory of polymer crystallization was reviewed, and theconfusion of the explanations to the polymer crystallization phenomenon was pointed out. LH theory assumes that the growth of lamellae is by the direct attachment of chain sequences from the melt onto smooth lateral sides. Whereas, more and more experimental results show that before the erystallite appears polymer chains go through conformationadjustment and orientation transformation which favor the formation of crystallites, i. e. a preordering structure exists before or at the early stage of polymer crystallization. This is a deviation from the simple process of nucleation and growth at the early stages of melt crystallization which can be gone back to Ostwald' s "rule of stages". Strobl' s multi-step crystallization mechanism based on recent SAXS results was summarized in the paper. The theory assumesfor the formation of polymer crystallites, a passage through a transient mesomorphic phase. It is proposed that the initial step is always the creation of a mesomorphic layer which starts with an attachment of chain sequences from the melt onto a growth face of a mesomorphic layer with minimum thickness and spontaneously thickens, up to a critical value, where it solidifies through a cooperative structural transition. The transition produces a granular crystalline layer, which transforms in the last step into homogeneous lamellar crystallites and this granular substructure isobserved for many semicrystalline polymers. Crystallization of polymers is c