Rapid recrystallization of freshly melted spherulites

The effect of residual nuclei on recrystallization has been investigated for a copolyester of glycolide and lactide. Initial spherulitic textures were melted, as observed by hot stage polarizing microscopy, and recrystallized by quenching to a given crystallization temperature. It was noted that the previous melting temperature would strongly influence the morphology of the second crystallization clearly due to residual nuclei remaining from the initial melt. Investigation of the new crystalline texture as well as its influence on subsequent crystallization kinetics was investigated through an Avrami anlaysis. It was also demonstrated that no memory effects of the initial crystallization temperature were transmitted to the system that had been recrystallized. This was supported by the utilization of small angle X-ray scattering measurements of the long spacing. 8 ref.--AA