A MULTISCALE MODEL FOR POLYMER CRYSTALLIZATION - I - GROWTH OF INDIVIDUAL SPHERULITES

In this two-part, paper, we present a model for the solidification of semicrystalline thermoplastic polymers that links the microscopic and macroscopic length scales. The model accounts for the important physic al phenomena occurring during spherulitic crystallization and predicts microstructural evolution. In this first part, we concentrate on the growth of individual spherulites. We present a fast and accurate model that predicts the shape of a spherulite as well as the path of its co nstitutive lamellae in any thermal situation. In part II of this paper we shall couple this new model for spherulite growth with a nucleatio n law and a macroscopic heat flow computation, thus enabling us to mod el realistic crystallization conditions.