On the characterization of stereoregular polymers. IV. Application to polypropylene

By viewing a stereoregular polymer as if it were a copolymer, one may obtain relationships between its physical properties and its molecular structure. In particular, melting points and maximum crystallinities were related to sequence propagation probabilities. Thus, in principle, the kinetic parameters for any semicrystalline polymer may be obtained. This information is generally unobtainable by other means. By use of the parameters thus evaluated for a series of polypropylene samples, melting curves were calculated. These represented experimentally determined ones as well as, or better than, existing theories of crystallization.