Temperature dependence of crystal melt coexistence for supported polyethylene filaments.

ABSTRACT: An interface or surface may be considered as a planar perturbation reflected by changes in molecular properties in the direction perpendicular to the interface or surface. As a consequence, predicted by theory and shown by experiments, crystals are often covered by a thin liquid layer of their own melt. Such crystal-melt coexistence can be related to phenomena of surface premelting, secondary nucleation and melting point depression, particularly important for small systems. Here, we employed intermittent-contact mode atomic force microscopy imaging on nanoscopic semi-cylindrical filaments of polyethylene on a substrate to observe that these filaments contained a crystalline core bounded by molten regions of rather uniform width, Wsoft= (9 ± 2) nm at room temperature, which increased revers

SUBMITTER: Huang D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12706021 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature