====== Paper: Polymer crystallinity and the ductile to brittle transition ======

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| //**Authors from our Lab:** \_ [[:public:team:schniepp|Hannes C. Schniepp]]// \\ **Published:** Oct. 16, 2018 \_
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**{{ :public:publications:2018_polymer_hcs.jpg?400|}} The effects of crystallinity and molecular weight on the ductile-brittle transition of a semi-crystalline polyamide were de-coupled. Low molecular weight organic acid solutions were used to accelerate the molecular weight degradation of polyamide-11 to be faster than with water aging at 120 °C. The mass average molecular weight (Mm) of the aqueous acid aged polyamide-11 (PA-11) polymerized from 11- aminodecanoic acid degraded 4 times faster in acetic and 8 times faster in butanoic acid solutions than aging in water. With accelerated Mm degradation, crystallinity increased due to chemi-crystallizaion but at a slower rate than decreases in molecular weight. These accelerated molecular weight degradation techniques made it possible to separate the role of crystallinity from molecular weight on PA-11 ductility. This research on degradation of a semi-crystalline polyamide in acidic solutions and in water shows that reaching a critical crystallinity determines the ductile to brittle phase transition, not chain length as measured by molecular weight.**

Our **{{ :public:publications:2018_polymer_crystallinity_ductility.pdf |paper}}** has been published in the journal //[[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2018.10.031|Polymer]]// (2018 impact factor: 3.771).

==== Citation ====

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Samuel J.A. Hocker, William T.Kim, Hannes C.Schniepp*, David E.Kranbuehl \\
"Polymer crystallinity and the ductile to brittle transition" \\
//Polymer// **158**, 72-76 (2018)
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[[this>_media/:public:publications:2018_polymer_crystallinity_ductility.pdf|{{:public:news:blog:icon_pdf_48.png?nolink}}]]

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|**PDF Download:**
|{{ :public:publications:2018_polymer_crystallinity_ductility.pdf|Download}}

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|**Contact:**
|[[schniepp@wm.edu|schniepp@wm.edu]]
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|**DOI:**
|[[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2018.10.031|10.1016/j.polymer.2018.10.031]]
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|**Publisher's Web Page:**
|[[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2018.10.031]]
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