Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.79, No.4, 742-759, 2001
Crystallization study on absorbable poly(p-dioxanone) polymers by differential scanning calorimetry
An investigation was carried out on the crystallization behavior of p-dioxanone polymers using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Kinetic analyses mere performed on data collected primarily during isothermal crystallization. Isothermal data were treated within the framework of the classical Avrami equation. Using this approach, both the Avrami exponent, n, and the crystallization half-time, t(1/2), were evaluated and their implications are discussed for each system studied. It is shown that a small change in the polymer's composition greatly affects the crystallization kinetics, as well as the crystallizability of the materials. Additionally, nonisothermal crystallization under controlled heating and cooling rates was explored. In the case of cooling from the melt, the Ozawa theory and the recently proposed Calculus method were employed to describe the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics. In view of our results, the validity of these two estimation techniques for determining important kinetic and morphological parameters is also discussed.