Gruppo di Ricerca di Scienza dei Polimeri, Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Padova, Italy

In the labs of the Department of Chemical Sciences of the University of Padova, different kinds of synthetic polymers are studied, focusing particularly on their morphological and structural aspects (crystallization, lamellar morphology, polymorphism).
These studies are carried out in collaboration with prominent international companies, like Basell Polyolefins.

Our study is aimed principally at semicrystalline polymers like PP, PE, PVDF, PTFE, PB, whose range of applications is very wide and spans, for example, from moulded items, to fibers, to films.

The study, conducted on different scales, allows to obtain a global and complete picture of the considered polymer.
In fact, by wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) the molecular structure, the type of crystalline cell and the dimensions of crystallites are studied, by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and electron microscopy the lamellar morphology is investigated and optical microscopy is ideal for observing spherulites. The study is completed by thermal analysis (DSC and simultaneous DSC-TGA).

From acquired diffractograms, in order to obtain the crystallinity degree, lamellar thicknesses and distributions, sophisticated computer software is used. Once characterization data have been obtained as a function of process or formulation parameters, the influence of these latter factors on polymer morphology and physical-mechanical properties is determined, with the purpose of obtaining a structure-property correlation to be used in the design of materials.

Source: http://wwwdisc.chimica.unipd.it/grsp/pubblica/indexinglese.htm (11/21/2023)