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Polymers
Special Issues
Thermal and Elastic Properties of Polymer Materials
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Thermal and Elastic Properties of Polymer Materials

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Analysis and Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 August 2025 | Viewed by 405

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Slobodanka Galovic

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Guest Editor
Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Mike Petrovica Alasa 12-14, 11001 Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: fractional calculus; fractional operator; fractional-order and distributed order models; wave propagation; applied and computational mathematics; nonlinear dynamics; condensed matter physics; heat transfer; photothermal science; inverse problems; artificial intelligence; quantum transport
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Edin Suljovrujić

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Guest Editor
Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: polymers; composites; hydrogels; nanomaterials; smart materials; high-energy radiation; polymerization; biomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Katarina Djordjević

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Guest Editor
Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of tha Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: experimental physics; polymeric materials; biomaterials; phase transitions; critical phenomena; fractals; polymerization; condensed matter; photoacoustic; artificial intelligence; inverse problem; thermal conduction; biomedicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymers are materials with a wide range of properties and applications, which makes them indispensable in many industries, biomedical applications, and everyday products. Their thermal and elastic properties are crucial because they directly affect polymer materials’ performance, durability, and functionality in certain conditions. The focus of this Special Issue is on the investigation of the relationship among the thermo-elastic properties of polymeric materials, such as glass transition temperature, melting temperature, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, coefficient of linear expansion, coefficient of elasticity, Young’s modulus of elasticity, creep resistance and impact resistance and composition, and structure and processing conditions to enable engineering their characteristics for specific applications.

Dr. Slobodanka Galovic
Dr. Edin Suljovrujić
Dr. Katarina Djordjević
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • thermo-elastic properties
  • thermal conductivity
  • thermal diffusivity
  • coefficient of linear expansion
  • glass transition temperature
  • melting temperature
  • coefficient of elasticity
  • Young’s modulus of elasticity
  • creep resistance
  • impact resistance

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

26 pages, 2441 KiB  
Article
Structure–Property Relationship in Isotactic Polypropylene Under Contrasting Processing Conditions
by Edin Suljovrujic, Dejan Milicevic, Katarina Djordjevic, Zorana Rogic Miladinovic, Georgi Stamboliev and Slobodanka Galovic
Polymers 2025, 17(14), 1889; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17141889 - 8 Jul 2025
Abstract
Polypropylene (PP), with its good physical, thermal, and mechanical properties and excellent processing capabilities, has become one of the most used synthetic polymers. It is known that the overall properties of semicrystalline polymers, including PP, are governed by morphology, which is influenced by [...] Read more.
Polypropylene (PP), with its good physical, thermal, and mechanical properties and excellent processing capabilities, has become one of the most used synthetic polymers. It is known that the overall properties of semicrystalline polymers, including PP, are governed by morphology, which is influenced by the crystallization behavior of the polymer under specific conditions. The most important industrial PP remains the isotactic one, and it has been studied extensively for its polymorphic characteristics and crystallization behavior for over half a century. Due to its regular chain structure, isotactic polypropylene (iPP) belongs to the group of polymers with a high tendency for crystallization. The rapid quenching of molten iPP fails to produce a completely amorphous polymer but leads to an intermediate crystalline order. On the other hand, slow cooling yields a material with high crystalline content. The processing conditions that occur in practice and industry are between these two extremes and, in some cases, are even very close. Therefore, the study of limits in processability and the impact of extreme preparation conditions on morphology, structure, thermal, and mechanical properties fills a gap in the current understanding of how the processing conditions of iPP can be used to design the desired properties for specific applications and is in the focus of this research. The first set of samples (Q samples) was obtained by rapid quenching, while the second was prepared by very slow cooling from the melt to room temperature (SC samples). Testing of samples was performed by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic dielectric spectroscopy (DDS), and mechanical measurements. Characterization revealed that slowly cooled samples exhibited a significantly higher degree of crystallinity and larger crystallites (χ ≥ 55% and L(110) ≈ 20 nm), compared to quenched samples (χ < 30%, L(110) ≤ 3 nm). Mechanical testing showed a drastic contrast: quenched samples exhibited elongation at break > 500%, while slowly cooled samples broke below 15%, reflecting their brittle behavior. For the first time, DDS is applied to investigate molecular mobility differences between processing-dependent structural forms, specifically the mesomorphic (smectic) and α-monoclinic forms. In slowly cooled samples, α relaxation exhibited both enhanced intensity and an upward temperature shift, indicating stronger structural constraints due to a much higher crystalline phase content and significantly larger crystallite size, respectively. These findings provide novel insights into the structure–property–processing relationship, which is crucial for industrial applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal and Elastic Properties of Polymer Materials)
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