Numerical simulation of phase separation coupled with crystallization.

The kinetics of liquid-liquid phase separation and polymer crystallization observed in double-quench experiments with blends of poly(ethylene-co-hexene) and poly(ethylene-co-butene) are studied using time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau Model. Numerical simulations demonstrate that our model can successfully reproduce three experimental phenomena: The decrease in number and size of crystallized spherulites with increasing time in phase separation, the preponderance of nuclei near the domain interface, and the subphase separation and subcrystallization occurring when the second quench is very deep. Moreover, the simulations are consistent with the recently proposed mechanism of "phase separation fluctuation assisted nucleation" in the crystallization process.