Crystallization Behaviour of Poly(L-lactic acid)/Poly(ethylene oxide) Crystalline/Crystalline Blends

Abstract

Crystallization behaviour of a typical crystalline/crystalline blend, poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), during slow non-isothermal crystallization was investigated by polarized light microscope connected with a THMS600 hot-stage and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The polarized light microscopic results indicated that the PLLA/PEO (50/50) blend produced the comparatively looser, bigger and coarser spherulites due to the formation of the interlamellar or interfibrillar structures. The FT-IR results displayed that the subtle wavenumber shift was observed in the spectra of the (50/50) blend locating at 1086 cm^-1 and the intensity of the peaks at 1061, 1755 and 1383 cm^-1 altered to some extent, suggesting that the crystallization of the one component in the blend may be influenced by the other constituent.