Isothermal cold crystallization kinetics of polylactide/nucleating agents

Abstract

Abstract The isothermal cold crystallization kinetics of polylactide (PLA)/nucleating agents (CaCO 3 , TiO 2 , and BaSO 4 , content from 0.5–2.0 wt %) was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry in the temperature range of 120–124°C. With blending nucleating agents, the crystallinity of PLA had a maximum crystallinity of 14.9%. Crystallization rate decreased with increasing crystallization temperature in the researched content range. The crystallization rate followed the Avrami equation with the exponent n around 4.5. From Lauritzen–Hoffman equation, the nucleation parameter K g was estimated. And from the value of K g , regime II crystallization behavior can be concluded. Then the lateral and fold surface free energy were calculated from K g . © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 310–317, 2007