INVESTIGATIONS ON THE NUCLEATION PROCESSES IN FRUSTRATED POLYMERIC SYSTEMS.

By means of Monte Carlo simulations, we investigated the nucleation of polymers in frustrated spaces, i.e. in spaces where one dimension is much smaller (or larger) than other (or others). The obtained results were compared with those predicted by the Avrami equation. In the case of the spontaneous nucleation, we found similarities with respect to the ordinary crystallization case, but the Avrami index has smaller values. For instantaneous nucleation conditions, we observed to have two distinctive regimes: 3- dimensional crystallization at the beginning of the process, followed by a behavior which is similar with the one that occur in spaces with low dimensionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]