1 Int J Mater Sci Res. ISSN: 2638-1559 Volume 1 • Issue 1 • 1000101 International Journal of Material Science and Research Research Article Open Access Synergistic Effects of Chain Extender and Nanoclay on the Crystallization Behaviour of Polylactide Mohammadreza Nofar* Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak/Istanbul, 34469, Turkey Article Info *Corresponding author: Mohammadreza Nofar Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering Istanbul Technical University Maslak/Istanbul, 34469 Turkey E-mail: nofar@itu.edu.tr Received: March 29, 2018 Accepted: April 9, 2018 Published: April 16, 2018 Citation: Nofar M. Synergistic Effects of Chain Extender and Nanoclay on the Crystallization Behavior of Polylactide. Int J Mater Sci Res. 2018; 1(1): 1-8. doi: 10.18689/ijmsr-1000101 Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Published by Madridge Publishers Abstract The crystallization behavior of polylactide (PLA) with various branching degrees and nanoclay contents were investigated using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The dispersion quality of nanoclay within PLA and reactivity of chain extender with PLA molecules were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy test (FT-IR), respectively. The results showed that chain branching in PLA produced higher crystallinity and fastened its slow crystallization kinetics. Also, the effects of processing (i.e., the same compounding process through a twin-screw extruder as for the PLA nanocomposites) on the crystallinity of “as received” PLAs were investigated to better compare them with the PLA nanocomposites. The results showed that the addition of nanoclay in different loadings did not have a significant effect on the melt crystallization of linear PLA. However, as the clay loading increased in half-branched and fully branched PLA’s the reduced molecular mobility started to hinder the crystallization started to be hindered due to the reduced molecular mobility. This threshold occurred at lower clay loadings in fully branched PLA as the mobility started to be limited earlier. On the other hand, clay could improve even the linear PLA’s crystallinity during isothermal treatments. On the other hand, branched PLA’s processing significantly improved crystallinity due to the completion of chain-branching reactions during the processing. The effects of chain branching and nanoclay on PLA’s isothermal melting crystallization kinetics at different temperatures were also studied using Avrami analysis. Keywords: Polylactide; PLA; Branching; Chain extender; Nanoclay; Crystallization. Introduction Most current polymers and plastics are derived from fossil fuels. After being consumed, these polymer products become waste material in the environment, where they do not degrade. Consequently, global efforts are being made to create green and biodegradable polymers. Newly, biodegradable and biocompatible polymers that have reasonable properties are receiving increasing attention from researchers with biomedical and environmental points of view. Due to its renewable sources and biocompatibility, polylactide (PLA) is one of the polymers that have received much attention. PLA could be a promising candidate for many applications such as packaging, and can be used in place of many other non-degradable polymers [1-6]. Currently, PLA’s slow crystallization behavior and low melt strength are of its most challenging drawbacks that limits its processing. Even in isothermal treatment, which PLA may encounter in extrusion and injection molding processes, it is difficult to achieve sufficient crystallinity [7-11]. This structural parameter is paramount in such polymer ISSN: 2638-1559