Monte Carlo Simulation of Strain-Enhanced Stereocomplex Polymer Crystallization

Abstract

We performed dynamic Monte Carlo simulations to investigate strain-induced polymer crystallization under separate enhancements of the driving forces for homocomponent and stereocomplex crystallization in the half-half symmetric racemic polymer blends. The results showed that the polymer strain significantly enhances the stereocomplex crystallization, in comparison to the parallel cases of template-induced crystal growth without any strain in the previous simulations. We attributed the results to the strain-induced polymer crystallization favoring intermolecular crystal nucleation at high temperatures, which benefits the stereocomplex crystallization. Our observations provided a molecular-level interpretation to the strain- or shear-enhanced stereocomplex crystallization in the racemic polylactide blends.