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Crystallization behavior, morphology, and mechanical properties of poly(lactic acid)/tributyl citrate/treated calcium carbonate composites
Author(s) -
Shi Nan,
Dou Qiang
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
polymer composites
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1548-0569
pISSN - 0272-8397
DOI - 10.1002/pc.22810
Subject(s) - crystallization , materials science , differential scanning calorimetry , scanning electron microscope , composite material , calcium carbonate , polarized light microscopy , kinetics , morphology (biology) , chemical engineering , genetics , biology , engineering , physics , optics , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
In this article, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composites containing titanate coupling agent treated calcium carbonate (T‐CaCO 3 ) and tributyl citrate (TBC) were prepared via melt blending. The crystallization, morphology, mechanical properties, and nonisothermal cold crystallization kinetics of PLA composites were studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), polarized light microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and mechanical tests, respectively. The results show that TBC promotes crystallization of PLA. Both T‐CaCO 3 and TBC significantly decrease the spherulitic size, but the crystal structure of PLA is not changed. A synergistic toughening effect is obtained by the combination of T‐CaCO 3 and TBC. The nonisothermal cold crystallization kinetics of PLA composites is well described by Mo's method. The activation energies (Δ E ) of nonisothermal cold crystallization were calculated by Kissinger and Takhor methods, respectively. It is found that the addition of T‐CaCO 3 and TBC increases Δ E , but it also increases the cold crystallization rate. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:1570–1582, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers