Abstract: A kinetic study was performed on the crystallization of polyoxymethylene (POM) and POM /thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) blends by means of differential scanning calorimetry at various cooling rates. Several theoretical models were applied to analyze the process. It showed that Jeziorny and Mo’s treatment described well the non-isothermal crystallization of POM and POM / TPU blends. The Avrami exponent n of POM/TPU blend is slightly smaller than that of POM. The values of half-time t1/2 and Zc showed that the crystallization rate increased with increasing cooling rates for both POM and POM/TPU blends, with the crystallization rate of POM/TPU blend being lower than that of neat POM. The activation energies were estimated by Kissinger method to be 513.5 and 390.5 kJ/mol for neat POM and POM/TPU blends, respectively.

Key words: polyoxymethylene, thermoplastic polyurethane, non-isothermal crystallization, kinetics, blend