This award will support collaborative research between Professors James L. White and Mukerrem Cakmak, University of Akron, and Professor Hans G. Zachmann, University of Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany. They will study semicrystalline polymers undergoing stress-induced crystallization. They will examine the phase transitions and the reasons for the transitions in various thermotropic liquid crystal polymers. Their materials will be carefully chosen blends of polymers that are either miscible or immiscible with each other. One reason for selecting the particular materials is their potential commercial importance. The primary purpose of the research is to learn about the fundamental structures of the liquid crystalline polymers and their blends and the sources and actions of the phase transitions of these materials. The U.S. researchers will prepare the test materials and study them during melt-spinning to obtain preliminary optical and thermal measurements. In Germany, the researchers will use the HASYLAB synchrotron as an x-ray source for small-angle scattering measurements. The project will benefit from the competence of the investigators and their history of successful collaborations. Professors White and Cakmak are experts in polymer engineering and Professor Zachmann is a highly regarded polymer physicist.
