Nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of PLA/nanosized YVO 4 composites as a novel nucleating agent

ABSTRACT The influence of nanosized YVO 4 particles as a novel and efficient nucleating agent on the nonisothermal crystallization behaviors of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was studied. A modified Avrami model was utilized to describe the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of pure PLA and PLA nanocomposites. The differential isoconversional Friedmann formula was employed to calculate the effective activation energies ( E X ( t ) ) of nonisothermal crystallization from the glass state. The results showed that modified Avrami methods describe the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of pure PLA and PLA nanocomposites well. The crystallization rate of PLA/1 mass% YVO 4 was faster than that of pure PLA sample by factor 5 × 10 3 at a heating rate of 1 K min −1 . While the values of Lauritzen–Hoffman parameters ( K g and U *) of the PLA/YVO 4 nanocomposites were lower than those of pure PLA, indicating the nucleation efficiency of nanosized YVO 4 particles for PLA. Scanning electron microscopy images reflect the uniform dispersion of 1 mass% YVO 4 in PLA matrix. Thermogravimetric analysis results revealed that the thermal degradation parameters are slightly lowered by 7 °C on increasing the mass percentage of YVO 4 in the PLA nanocomposites. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137 , 48340.