Poly (L-lactic acid) Modified by N, N'-bis(Stearic acid)-1,4-Dicarboxybenzene Dihydrazide: Studies of Crystallization, Melting Behavior and Thermal Decomposition.

In this study, a new organic nucleating agent N, N'-bis(stearic acid)-1,4-dicarboxybenzene dihydrazide (PASH) to improve crystallization behavior of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) along with the effect of PASH on melting behavior, thermal stability of PASH-nucleated PLLA was holistically reported. The melt-crystallization process illustrated that PASH as an effective heterogeneous nucleating agent could boost PLLA's crystallization rate, but increasing PASH concentration and cooling rate conversely inhibited melt-crystallization process of PLLA in this study. With respect to meltcrystallization process, a larger amount of PASH leaded to a shift of cold-crystallization peak to lower temperature level. Isothermal crystallization revealed, in comparison to pure PLLA, that the half time of overall crystallization of PLLA/PASH was significantly decreased with PLLA containing 3 wt% PASH having the minimum t1/2= 67.3 s at 105ºC. The different melting behaviors of PLLA/PASH under different conditions were attributed to the nucleating effect of PASH within PLLA. In particular, the melting behavior at a heating rate of 10°C/min after isothermal crystallization depended primarily on the crystallization temperature. Whereas, the impact of crystallization time on melting behavior was negligible. Nonetheless, the melting behavior was influenced by the heating rate after non-isothermal crystallization. The thermal stability of PLLA was detrimental with the addition of PASH owing to a typical drop in onset thermal decomposition temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]