Nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of polyoxymethylene/montmorillonite nanocomposite

The nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of polyoxymethylene (POM), polyoxymethylene/Na–montmorillonite (POM/Na–MMT), and polyoxymethylene/organic–montmorillonite (POM/organ–MMT) nanocomposites were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry at various cooling rates. The Avrami analysis modified by Jeziorny and a method developed by Mo were employed to describe the nonisothermal crystallization process of POM/Na–MMT and POM/organ–MMT nanocomposites. The difference in the values of the exponent n between POM and POM/montmorillonite nanocomposites suggests that the nonisothermal crystallization of POM/Na–MMT and POM/organ–MMT nanocomposites corresponds to a tridimensional growth with heterogeneous nucleation. The values of half‐time and the parameter Zc, which characterizes the kinetics of nonisothermal crystallization, show that the crystallization rate of either POM/Na–MMT or POM/organ–MMT nanocomposite is faster than that of virgin POM at a given cooling rate. The activation energies were evaluated by the Kissinger method and were 387.0, 330.3, and 328.6 kJ/mol for the nonisothermal crystallization of POM, POM/Na–MMT nanocomposite, and POM/organ–MMT nanocomposite, respectively. POM/montmorillonite nanocomposite can be as easily fabricated as the original polyoxymethylene, considering that the addition of montmorillonite, either Na–montmorillonite or organ–montmorillonite, may accelerate the overall nonisothermal crystallization process.