Shear flow and carbon nanotubes synergistically induced nonisothermal crystallization of poly(lactic acid) and its application in injection molding

Biomacromolecules. 2012 Nov 12;13(11):3858-67. doi: 10.1021/bm3013617. Epub 2012 Oct 22.

Abstract

The effect of shear flow and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), separately and together, on nonisothermal crystallization of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) at a relatively large cooling rate was investigated by time-resolved synchrotron wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and polarized optical microscope (POM). Unlike flexible-chain polymers such as polyethylene, and so on, whose crystallization kinetics are significantly accelerated by shear flow, neat PLA only exhibits an increase in onset crystallization temperature after experiencing a shear rate of 30 s(-1), whereas both the nucleation density and ultimate crystallinity are not changed too much because PLA chains are intrinsically semirigid and have relatively short length. The breaking down of shear-induced nuclei into point-like precursors (or random coil) probably becomes increasingly active after shear stops. Very interestingly, a marked synergistic effect of shear flow and CNTs exists in enhancing crystallization of PLA, leading to a remarkable increase of nucleation density in PLA/CNT nanocomposite. This synergistic effect is ascribed to extra nuclei, which are formed by the anchoring effect of CNTs' surfaces on the shear-induced nuclei and suppressing effect of CNTs on the relaxation of the shear-induced nuclei. Further, this interesting finding was deliberately applied to injection molding, aiming to improve the crystallinity of PLA products. As expected, a remarkable high crystallinity in the injection-molded PLA part has been achieved successfully by the combination of shear flow and CNTs, which offers a new method to fabricate PLA products with high crystallinity for specific applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cold Temperature
  • Crystallization
  • Lactic Acid / chemistry*
  • Microscopy, Polarization
  • Nanocomposites / chemistry*
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*
  • Polyesters
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Nanotubes, Carbon
  • Polyesters
  • Polymers
  • Lactic Acid
  • poly(lactide)