Spatio-temporal growth of broken spiral and concentric ringed spherulites in blends of poly(vinylidene fluoride) and ethylene-vinylacetate copolymers

Melting and crystallization behavior in mixtures of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and several ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers (EVAc) with various ethylene contents have been investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry, atomic force microscope, and optical microscopy. PVDF/EVAc-80 exhibits the melting point depression of PVDF crystals, suggestive of a miscible character of the pair. Crystallization behavior and morphology development in blends of PVDF/EVAc-80 have been investigated with an emphasis on the spherulitic growth demonstrating the spiral and concentric ringed (or target) patterns. Of particular interest is the break-up of the spiral or concentric ringed patterns at very shallow supercoolings, which may be attributed to instabilities driven by the exclusion of amorphous PVDF and EVAc chains into the emerging inter- and intra-spiral (or target) lamellar regions.