Advanced Materials, Vol.17, No.12, 1503-1507, 2005
From entropic to enthalpic elasticity: Novel thermoplastic elastomers from syndiotactic propylene-ethylene copolymers
Syndiotactic propylene-ethylene copolymers show entropic or enthalpic elasticity depending on ethylene concentration (see Figure). Enthalpic elasticity is due to a reversible transition between transplanar and helical polymorphic forms during stretching, and allows maintenance of elasticity even for highly crystalline materials.