Extrapolation of short-chain oligomers melting temperatures at infinite molecular weight

The determination of the thermodynamic equilibrium melting point of a polymer (T-m(0)) by the extrapolation of the melting temperature of its oligomers has been extensively studied in the case of n-alkanes. Nevertheless, a recent publication(1) underlines the difficulty to realize this extrapolation. A new method is presented here, leading to an acceptable extrapolation of PE. The equation proposed may give a better value of T-m because the premelting phenomena is being considered in its development. Moreover, this method can be easily extended to a larger number of polymers, such as PEO, PEEK, PPS, etc. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.