Nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of poly(lactide)-effect of plasticizers and nucleating agent

• Published in: Polymer engineering and science Vol. 53; no. 5; pp. 1085 - 1098
• Main Authors: Courgneau, Cécile, Ducruet, Violette, Avérous, Luc, Grenet, Jean, Domenek, Sandra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.05.2013; Wiley; Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Acceleration; Agricultural sciences; Aliphatic compounds; Applied sciences; Blends; Chemical properties; Chemical reaction, Rate of; Citrates; Crystallization; Effects; Exact sciences and technology; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Identification and classification; Kinetics; Lactic acid; Life Sciences; Molecular weight; Nucleation; Optimization; Plasticizers; Polyester resins; Polyethylene glycol; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Polymer processing; Properties; Talcs; Technology of polymers; Thermal properties; France; Heat treatment; Talc; Optically active polymer; Ester polymer; Citrate; Crystallinity; Experimental study; Modeling; Optimization; Property formulation relationship; Ethylene oxide polymer; Kinetic model; Additive; Lactic acid polymer; Cyclic ether polymer; Plasticizer; Aliphatic polymer; Non isothermal condition; Kinetics; Activation energy; Nucleating agent; ISOTHERMAL CRYSTALLIZATION; STEREOCOMPLEX CRYSTALLITES; BEHAVIOR; POLY(L-LACTIC ACID); TRIPHENYL PHOSPHATE; POLYMER CRYSTALLIZATION; POLY(PROPYLENE GLYCOL); MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES; PHASE-CHANGE; THERMAL-ANALYSIS
• ISSN: 0032-3888; 1548-2634
• DOI: 10.1002/pen.23357

Poly(lactide), a bio‐based aliphatic polyester, is a subject to large research effort. One point of optimization is the acceleration of its crystallization kinetics to promote crystallinity under nonisothermal polymer processing conditions by means of compounding with nucleating agents and plasticizers. The nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of neat and formulated poly(L,D‐lactide) (PDLLA) from the melt with talc and polyethylene glycol (PEG) or acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) were studied with the help of the Avrami–Jeziorny and Liu–Mo analysis. Talc showed to be a moderately efficient nucleating agent, as it causes only small increase of crystallization kinetics and shows no effect on the crystallization activation energy. A synergistic effect with plasticizers was observed, expanding the crystallization window significantly. PEG was found to be a more efficient plasticizer than ATBC but causes large decrease in the molecular weight average of PDLLA upon thermal treatment. The talc/ATBC system is efficient starting with an ATBC concentration of 9 wt%. The acceleration observed was a crystallization half‐time decrease of 30% compared to neat PLA and reaching maximum crystallization enthalpies even at cooling rate of 25°C min−1. The ATBC/talc system can be recommended as an efficient system for acceleration of nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of PDLLA. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2013. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers