The isothermal crystallization kinetics of a thermotropic liquid crystalline (LC) polymer has been studied using the integral intensity of a selected X‐ray reflection as a measure of the crystallinity. The starting conditions for the crystallization have been varied by isothermal annealing of the polymer in the LC state during various time intervals. Using the Avrami equation to interpret the crystallization kinetics, Avrami exponents increasing from 0.66 to 2.1 have been obtained with increasing annealing time. This observation can be explained by simultaneous heterogeneous nucleation from ID (centers of disclinations) and 2D (domain walls) nuclei. Using a modified form of the Avrami equation, the contributions of the two types of nuclei can be separated. Avrami exponents smaller than 1 appear to be related to the finite size of the domains. Time resolved studies of the crystallization process using a polarization microscope and bright field transmission electron microscopy observations corroborate the interpretation of the Avrami plots.
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Zhao et al. (1993) studied this question.
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