Nonisothermal cold crystallization kinetics of poly(lactic acid)/bacterial poly(hydroxyoctanoate) (PHO)/talc

Abstract

The effects of bacterial poly(hydroxyoctanoate) (PHO) and talc on the nonisothermal cold crystallization behaviours of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) were analysed with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the thermal stability of the samples was observed with thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The modified Avrami's model was used to describe the nonisothermal cold crystallization kinetics of neat PLA and its blends. The activation energies E for nonisothermal cold crystallization were calculated by the isoconversional method of Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS). The DSC results showed that the PLA/PHO blends were immiscible in the whole studied range, and as the PHO and talc content increased, the crystallization rate of PLA accelerated, and the crystallinity of PLA in the PLA samples increased. The values of the Avrami exponent indicated that the nonisothermal cold crystallization of the neat PLA and its blends exhibited heterogeneous, three-dimensional spherulitic growth. The E values were strongly dependent on PHO and talc. The TGA results showed that the presence of PHO and talc slightly influenced the thermal stability of PLA.