Rheological properties of crystallizing polylactide: Detection of induction time and modeling the evolving structure and properties

Linear viscoelastic properties of polymer melts are highly sensitive to any structural changes, including molecular weight changes and the formation and growth of crystallites. Here, we make use of this sensitivity to study the homogeneous crystallization of polylactide. As this polymer is rather quickly susceptible to thermal degradation even at moderate temperatures, it is essentially impossible to study homogeneous crystallization in the absence of degradation. Thus, the evolution of complex viscosity of a polylactide due to thermal degradation in the absence of crystallization was studied. A simple empirical model is used to characterize the variation of complex viscosity due to thermal degradation and to determine the induction time of homogeneous crystallization at wide range of degrees of supercooling. Next, the evolution of complex viscosity due to crystallization was measured at several temperatures. Based on the results, a phenomenological model describing the viscosity evolution during homogeneous crystallization is proposed and validated. Finally, the linear viscoselastic data in the early stages of crystallization are shown to be consistent with gelation due to the formation of a network of tie molecules between spherulites. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 812–822, 2010