Kinetic Analysis of Polymer Crystallization Using the Hoffman–Lauritzen Model

Abstract

This study presents a new method for analyzing the kinetics of glass and melt crystallization of polymers using the Hoffman–Lauritzen model. The method includes two steps: first, the crystallization rate is decomposed into a conversion function and a rate constant, applicable to both isothermal and nonisothermal data. Second, the extracted rate constant is used to determine the Hoffman–Lauritzen parameters, with the method performing best for nonisothermal conditions. The accuracy of the new approach was verified through simulated crystallization processes and demonstrated experimentally using glass and melt crystallization of poly(ethylene 2,5‐furandicarboxylate). A major advantage of the newly proposed approach is its exclusive reliance on multiple linear regression, which guarantees unique global least‐squares solutions without the need for initial guesses or iterative trial‐and‐error methods. GNU Octave/MATLAB scripts are supplied to facilitate practical implementation of the newly proposed method.