Abstract
The crystallization behavior of coextruded microlayered sheets comprised of 657 alternating layers of polycarbonate (PC) and a miscible copolyester of mainly 1,4‐cyclohexanedimethanol and terephthalic acid (KODAR) was investigated as a function of annealing time when the KODAR was crystallized isothermally from the glass at 195°C. Comparisons were made with crystallization of KODAR alone, and with crystallization of KODAR from melt blends with PC. The kinetics of crystallization and the morphology of the crystallized KODAR were characterized with differential scanning calorimetry, and by examination of thin sections microtomed from annealed specimens in the polarized light microscope and the transmission electron microscope. The growth rate of small, birefringent KODAR spherulites was non‐linear, and was strongly affected by diffusion of PC into the KODAR layers. Diffusion of amorphous PC into the KODAR layers retarded nucleation and spherulite growth and decreased spherulite density. The effect became more pronounced as the KODAR layer thickness was reduced. Spherulities nucleated randomly throughout the KODAR layers in the PC/KODAR 20/80 (w/w) microlayer and grew rapidly to form a continuous layer of impinged spherulites. In contrast, spherulites in the PC/KODAR 40/60 and 60/40 microlayers nucleated and grew along the center of the KODAR layers where the KODAR concentration was highest.