ANALYSIS OF THE THERMAL-PROPERTIES AND MOTION IN CRYSTALLINE TRANS-1,4-POLY(BUTADIENE)

A new analysis of the disordering transition of semicrystalline trans-1,4-poly(butadiene) is presented, based on an improved calculation of the transition enthalpy from the crystal form I to the mesophase II (condis phase). In the past it had been overlooked that the experimental heat capacity starts to deviate more than one hundred kelvins below the peak temperature of the disordering transition temperature T(d) from that contributed by the amorphous fraction and the crystal. An assessment of the additional entropy of disordering at lower temperature suggests that by the time the glass transition is reached on cooling, all the mesophase is converted to the fully ordered crystal form I.