Crystallization Behavior of Crystalline–Amorphous and Crystalline–Crystalline Block Copolymers Containing Poly( l -lactide)

Block copolymers containing biodegradable blocks become increasingly important in material science because of their potential applications in several areas, ranging from highly selective separation membranes to biomedical devices. Particularly, the incorporation of the semicrystalline block such as poly( l -lactide) (PLLA) in block copolymers leads to the formation of unique morphologies because of the competition between microphase separation and crystallization of PLLA. In this chapter, we highlight the advances in the structure and morphology development in semicrystalline block copolymers containing PLLA blocks. Understanding the structural evolution and the formation of the final morphology of these block copolymers is of major interest because it is in direct relationship with the properties and performance of these materials.