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Thermal and phase-separation behavior of injection-molded poly(l-lactic acid)/poly(d-lactic acid) blends with moderate optical purity

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Abstract

l-Lactide-rich poly(l-lactide) (LR-PLLA)/d-lactide-rich poly(d-lactide) (DR-PDLA) blends with moderate optical purity were prepared by conventional extrusion and followed by injection-molding process in this study. Thermal properties, crystalline structure, spherulite morphology, melt degradability, and thermal mechanical property were investigated by means of DSC, WAXD, POM, TG, and DMA. In comparison with LR-PLLA/DR-PDLA blends with higher optical purity, stereocomplex with less perfect structure was partially formed from the LR-PLLA/DR-PDLA blends with various compositions and showed lower melting temperature. Surprisingly, double melting peaks have appeared in blends with 40 or 50 wt% DR-PDLA. Annealing at higher temperature for blends with 50 wt% DR-PDLA resulted in three melting peaks. It is assumed that the optical purity would play a critical role, thus, producing limited amount of stereocomplex with less imperfect structure. Annealing would also induce the micro-phase separation behavior in LR-PLLA/DR-PDLA blends and significantly influence the thermal and degradable properties of blends.

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Acknowledgment

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51173041), Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (B502), and Shanghai Key Laboratory Project (08DZ2230500).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymeric Materials, Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Huijun Xu, Songchao Tang, Jianding Chen & Yuan Lu

  2. Shanghai Academy Biomaterials Corporation Ltd, Shanghai, 201512, China

    Peimin Yin & Weiliang Pu

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  1. Huijun Xu
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  2. Songchao Tang
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  3. Jianding Chen
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  4. Peimin Yin
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  5. Weiliang Pu
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  6. Yuan Lu
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Correspondence to Songchao Tang.

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Xu, H., Tang, S., Chen, J. et al. Thermal and phase-separation behavior of injection-molded poly(l-lactic acid)/poly(d-lactic acid) blends with moderate optical purity. Polym. Bull. 68, 1135–1151 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-011-0673-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-011-0673-y

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