Interfacial polarization phenomenon in the recrystallization of poly(butylene succinate)

The Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars relaxation behavior of poly(butylene succinate) during melting and recrystallization at 383 K was studied. It was found that the polarization originates from the three-phase structure of the dispersion of spherulites in the crystallizing melt. A model made up of a conductive melt matrix and a dispersion of spherical semicrystalline particles was proposed. The semicrystalline particles were composed of continuous, nonconductive crystals and spherical amorphous inclusions with the conductivity of the melt matrix. The three-phase Bruggeman-Hanai theoretical equations for interfacial polarization were employed and the relaxation behavior were successfully simulated. Three parameters - the melt conductivity, the volume fraction of the semicrystalline particles, and the amorphous fraction within these particles are obtained by fitting the theoretical equations to the experimental data. Their relationships with the morphological development during the recrystallization process were correspondingly discussed.