Journal of Applied Polymer Science
Journal of Applied Polymer Science
5 years ago

Effect of interface and confinement size on the crystallization behavior of PLLA confined in coaxial electrospun fibers

Effect of interface and confinement size on the crystallization behavior of PLLA confined in coaxial electrospun fibers
Rui-Yang Wang, Shu-Fen Zou, Bin Fan, Zhi-Qiang Fan, Jun-Ting Xu
Poly(l-lactide)/polyacrylonitrile (PLLA/PAN) core-sheath composite fibers were fabricated by coaxial electrospinning. The crystallization behavior of PLLA within the coaxial electrospun fibers was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The PLLA/PAN coaxial electrospun fiber with a PLLA diameter of ∼32 nm (C1) exhibits a crystallization temperature (Tc) of 22.5 °C higher but a cold-crystallization temperature (Tcc) of 10 °C lower than bulk PLLA. The crystallinity of C1 fiber is also higher than bulk PLLA. In both isothermal melt- and cold-crystallization, PLLA in C1 fiber crystallizes faster than the bulk PLLA, as revealed by the smaller half crystallization times (t1/2). The enhanced crystallizability of PLLA in the C1 fiber may be attributed to the increased nuclei number and crystal growth rate induced by the PAN surface, i.e., surface-induction effect. However, PLLA also suffers a nano-confinement effect exerted by PAN sheath in the coaxial electrospun fiber, which can suppress PLLA crystallization. When the diameter of PLLA is too small (< 32 nm), the nano-confinement effect may prevail over the surface-induction effect, leading to a slower crystallization rate and smaller crystallinity. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 135, 45980.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/app.45980

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.