We
investigate for the first time the morphology and crystallization
of two novel tetrablock quarterpolymers of polyethylene (PE), poly(ethylene
oxide) (PEO), poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), and poly(
l
-lactide) (PLLA) with four potentially crystallizable blocks: PE
18
7.1
-b-
PEO
37
15.1
-b-
PCL
26
10.4
-b-
PLLA
19
7.6
(Q1) and PE
29
9.5
-b-
PEO
26
8.8
-b-
PCL
23
7.6
-b-
PLLA
22
7.3
(Q2) (superscripts give number average molecular weights
in kg/mol, and subscripts give the composition in wt %). Their synthesis
was performed by a combination of polyhomologation (C1 polymerization)
and ring-opening polymerization techniques using a ″catalyst-switch″
strategy, either ″organocatalyst/metal catalyst switch″
(Q1 sample, 96% isotactic tetrads) or ″organocatalyst/organocatalyst
switch″ (Q2 sample, 84% isotactic tetrads). Their corresponding
precursors—triblock terpolymers PE
-b-
PEO
-b-
PCL, diblock copolymers PE
-b-
PEO, and
PE homopolymers—were also studied. Cooling and heating rates
from the melt at 20 °C/min were employed for most experiments:
differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized light optical microscopy
(PLOM),
in situ
small-angle X-ray scattering/wide-angle
X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The
direct comparison of the results obtained with these different techniques
allows the precise identification of the crystallization sequence
of the blocks upon cooling from the melt. SAXS indicated that Q1 is
melt miscible, while Q2 is weakly segregated in the melt but breaks
out during crystallization. According to WAXS and DSC results, the
blocks follow a sequence as they crystallize: PLLA first, then PE,
then PCL, and finally PEO in the case of the Q1 quarterpolymer; in
Q2, the PLLA block is not able to crystallize due to its low isotacticity.
Although the temperatures at which the PEO and PCL blocks and the
PE and PLLA blocks crystallize overlap, the analysis of the intensity
changes measured by WAXS and PLOM experiments allows identifying each
of the crystallization processes. The quarterpolymer Q1 remarkably
self-assembles during crystallization into tetracrystalline banded
spherulites, where four types of different lamellae coexist. Nanostructural
features arising upon sequential crystallization are found to have
a relevant impact on the mechanical properties. Nanoindentation measurements
show that storage modulus and hardness of the Q1 quarterpolymer significantly
deviate from those of the stiff PE and PLLA blocks, approaching typical
values of compliant PEO and PCL. Results are mainly attribute...