Epitaxial polymer crystal growth influenced by partial melting of the fiber in the single-polymer composites

We report dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of polymer melt crystallization induced by the same species of the fiber. We found that partial melting on the lateral surface of the fiber postpones the epitaxial crystal growth of the matrix, while the crystal growth rate has been little affected. The delay can be attributed to the recrystallization on the lateral surface of the fiber due to the prior melting. In addition, we observed the highly stretched status of those polymers melted from the fiber, which is responsible for an instant initiation of the recrystallization at a low temperature. The relevance of our results to the experimental observations of isotactic polypropylene has been discussed.