ABSTRACT: Crystallinity and melting behavior are directly affected by the presence of a noncrystallizable
comonomer. Hydrogenated polybutadiene, HPB, emulates a random ethylene-butene copolymer and
provides the basis for comparison to the equilibrium theory of Flory. Melting behavior, density
(crystallinity), and SAXS long period were measured for HPB’s having 12 to 88 ethyl branches per 1000
backbone C atoms. DSC curves calculated from equilibrium theory are compared to experimental traces.
It is shown that the equilibrium melting temperature Tm
c of infinitely thick crystals, while thermodynamically
correct, is inaccessible to experiment. Thickest crystals with observable populations melt at the
practical final melting temperature Tm
f, which is below Tm
c. The peak melting temperature Tm
p has no
relation to the most populous crystal thickness. Crystallization of molten copolymer chains leads to fewer
thick and thin crystals than predicted by theory; the difference is attributed to kinetic factors of secondary
nucleation barriers and mass transport. Crystallization at feasible rates is achieved when the melt is at
a temperature low enough to undercool a sizable fraction of crystallizable segments. Crystallization
prevents the motion of segments required to achieve equilibrium, so solidification proceeds as if the system
were quenched, accounting for insensitivity of copolymer morphology to cooling rate. Only the size of the
largest crystals which melt at experimental Tm
f can be established by thermodynamics. There is some
evidence that small equilibrium crystallinities are approached in highly branched copolymers.