Abstract

The crystallization kinetics of polyamide-12 has been investigated using a combination of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and hot-stage optical microscopy. The DSC data for isothermal crystallization were consistent with a simple two-parameter Avrami model for isothermal crystallization and optical measurements of the spherulite growth rates and nucleation density. On the basis of semiempirical expressions for these quantities, it is shown that with small adjustments the model can also account for DSC data for nonisothermal crystallization, provided that corrections are made for the dynamic heat balance between the sample and the DSC oven.

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