The melting temperatures of the n-paraffins and the convergence temperature for polyethylene

0.3 °C) could not be altered by more than ± 0.5 °C by any reasonable variation of the parameters. A simplified melting expression is obtained for polyethylene which includes both the chain end and fold surface energies, and it is shown that chain end effects partly account for the discrepancy between the 144.7 °C convergence temperature and experimental melting temperatures (~ 139 °C) of extended chain polyethylene crystals.