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Isothermal crystallization kinetics and melting behavior of PLLA/f-MWNTs composites

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Abstract

Poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) and functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWNTs) were used to prepare PLLA/f-MWNTs composites via solution blending. The structure and morphology of f-MWNTs were characterized using FT-IR and SEM. The spherulitic morphologies, isothermal crystallization kinetics, and melting behavior of the resulting PLLA/f-MWNTs composites were investigated by POM and DSC, respectively. Both Avrami and Lauritzen–Hoffman kinetics models are used to quantitatively evaluate the crystallization half-time t 1/2, the nucleation constant K g, and the work of chain folding q of PLLA and its composites. Temperature modulated DSC was used to investigate the mechanism of overlapped endothermic and exothermic peaks of PLLA/f-MWNTs composites. The results indicated that the SiO2 coating on the MWNTs could react with coupling agent KH-550 leading to the formation of f-MWNTs, which can be evenly dispersed in PLLA matrix. A decrease of spherulite size and an increase of crystallization rate were observed from POM measurements for PLLA/f-MWNTs. The multiple melting behavior can be attributed to the melt-recrystallization process of PLLA/f-MWNTs composites at certain temperature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Material Science and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China

    Jian Shi, Xiuping Lu, Hongyue Li & Dongze Li

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  1. Jian Shi
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  2. Xiuping Lu
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Correspondence to Xiuping Lu.

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Shi, J., Lu, X., Li, H. et al. Isothermal crystallization kinetics and melting behavior of PLLA/f-MWNTs composites. J Therm Anal Calorim 117, 1385–1396 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-014-3885-1

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