Combining Fast-Scan Chip Calorimetry with Molecular Simulations to Investigate Polymer Crystal Melting

Reversible and irreversible melting of lamellar polymer crystals have been studied by means of combining fast-scan chip calorimetry of polymorphic isotactic polypropylenes with dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of polymer chains on a lattice. Different polymorphic phases of polypropylenes are linked to variation of the chain mobility in the crystals of the same species, and this mobility appears as an adjustable parameter in parallel molecular simulations. Such a combination of two different approaches having complemental advantages facilitates a better understanding of the complex phase transition behaviors of lamellar polymer crystals.