Isothermal crystallization kinetics of poly(ethylene terephthalate) and poly(methyl methacrylate) blends

Different kinetic models like the Avrami, Tobin and Urbanovici-Segal models have been applied for determining the isothermal crystallization kinetics of virgin poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and PET/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blends. The different compositions investigated were PET90/PMMA10, PET75/PMMA25 and PET50/PMMA50 [wt/wt%]. The experimental data was fitted using Solver, a non-linear multi-variable regression program and linearization method. The effect of composition variation of PET/PMMA on parameters like crystallization rate constant and crystallization exponent were investigated. Urbanovici-Segal and Avrami models gave the best fit to the experimental data. Tobin model does not seem to fit the experimental data for the systems under investigation. Experimental results indicated that the crystallization rate constant values increased with decreasing temperatures.