Stress-induced Solid-Solid Crystal Transition in Trans-1,4-polyisoprene

The polymorphic transition of trans-1,4-polyisoprene(TPI) during stretching was investigated by in situ wide-angle X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The influences of the initial structure, stretching temperature, and strain rate on the contents of different crystal modifications(α, β) were explored. The results confirm that the α-β transition occurs during stretching of TPI that only contains αcrystal(α-TPI). When the stress is relaxed, the β crystal formed during stretching remains, which indicates that the transition is irreversible. On the other hand, stretching of TPI that only contains β crystal(β-TPI) results in orientated β crystal. No β-α transition occurs during stretching. The different structures of stretched α-TPI and β-TPI exclude the previously proposed "melting-recrystallization mechanism". The α-β transition depends significantly on temperature and strain rate, indicating the transition is governed both by thermodynamics and kinetics. Our results support a solid-solid transition mechanism rather than a melting-recrystallization mechanism. The irreversible nature of the transition is attributed to the metastability of the β phase in the unstretched state. Different from the "β phases" that appear in polymers with stress-induced reversible transitions, e.g. poly(butylene terephthalate) and poly(butylene succinate), the stability of β phase in TPI is high that can be long-lived.The strain rate dependence of α-β transition hinders the determination of critical stress for the transition. It further indicates that the local stress within the sample is more heterogeneous at higher strain rates.

Synthesis of Well-defined Telechelic Trans-1,4-polyisoprene by Oxidative Cleavage

Synthesis of telechelic trans-1,4-polyisoprenes（TPI： trans-structure ＆gt; 95%） was evaluated based on two different methods of oxidative cleavage（indirect cleavage： first epoxidation of TPI, then the selective cleavage of epoxidized units in epoxidized trans-1,4-polyisoprene（ETPI） and direct cleavage of isoprene units in TPI）. The influence of solvents and the ratio of oxidative agents was investigated by 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. A series of well-defined telechelic TPI with double terminated functional groups and less side reaction（molecular weight distribution range： 1.96？2.26） were synthesized by indirect cleavage in chloroform. Telechelic TPI showed similar crystallization behavior with TPI and interesting cold crystallization behavior characterized by DSC.

Fabrication of Trans-1,4-polyisoprene Nanofibers by Electrospinning and Its Crystallization Behavior and Mechanism

Trans-1,4-polyisoprene（TPI） nanofibers have been fabricated successfully through electrospinning technology.Through the control of electrospinning parameters, highly crystallized TPI fresh fibers composed mainly of β phase were produced. Morphology and diameter of TPI nanofibers can be controlled by adjusting the electrospinning conditions. The in situ observations of FTIR spectra revealed that the crystallinity of the TPI fibers decreased with aging. While for TPI nanofibers aging at 45 °C for 24 h, a decrease in crystallinity as well as β to a transformation was observed with aging and these changings happened in the first 50 h during aging. The mechanism for β-TPI formation during electrospinning process and the reduced crystallinity with aging were proposed.