Question

What is difference between the polymer crystals grown from solution and polymer melt?

Answer 1

The main difference between polymer crystals grown from solution and polymer melt is that the crystals that are grown from solutions are crystalline and the crystals that are grown from polymer melt are amorphous and semi-crystalline in nature.

The polymer crystals from solution are grown by evaporation. When the solution is dilute there is no interaction between the polymer chains as we evaporate the solution it becomes more concentrated and the chains come close and interaction between them increases. In this manner, the crystallization will be in an orderly manner and the degree of crystallization will be higher.

In the case of polymer melts, the long chain polymers are in an irregular and entangled form. Polymers retain this kind of irregular patterns upon solidification by freezing and form amorphous solids. Some polymer chains form partly ordered and partly disordered crystals giving rise to a solid that is neither crystalline nor amorphous(semi-crystalline).