Dislocation melting inn-paraffin homologs

A formula for the melting temperature of $n$-paraffin homologs as a function of polymer chain length is derived in a simple model of dislocation catastrophe. The salient features of the melting curve can be understood as a consequence of the gradual transition with increasing chain length from a melting process dominated by dislocations which bridge the paraffin chain lamellae, to one in which nonbridging loops play the principal role.