Crystallization and Melting of Polyisoprene Rubber under Uniaxial Deformation

• Published in: Macromolecules Vol. 36; no. 17; pp. 6462 - 6471
• Main Authors: Miyamoto, Yoshihisa, Yamao, Hiromi, Sekimoto, Ken
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 26.08.2003
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Crystallization; Exact sciences and technology; Organic polymers; Physicochemistry of polymers; Properties and characterization; Strain rate sensitivity; Tensile stress; Melt crystallization; Melting; Vulcanizate; Stress strain relation; Uniaxial strain; Kinetics; Experimental study; Isoprene polymer; Isothermal crystallization; Elongation (mechanics)
• ISSN: 0024-9297; 1520-5835
• DOI: 10.1021/ma0342877

The crystallization and the melting of vulcanized isoprene rubber under uniaxial deformation have been studied by the measurements of the stress−strain−temperature relation. The melting temperature increases approximately linearly with nominal stress for the rubbers crystallized at a fixed temperature and stress condition. It has been shown that the main origin of the rise in melting temperature with stress is the work of contraction upon melting rather than the entropy reduction on deformation in the molten state. The crystallization rate monotonically increases with nominal stress above the melting stress at a given temperature, while it shows a maximum against temperature at a given stress. The relation between the temperature and the nominal stress at the onset of crystallization is satisfactorily reproduced by the simplified kinetic model.