Investigation into the crystallization of poly-lactic acid following the application of a novel high molecular weight, high epoxy functionality polymer chain extender

Abstract This research explored the impact of a novel polymer chain extender with high epoxy functionality on the crystallization properties of polylactic acid (PLA). FT-IR and Raman spectrometer were utilized to characterize the structure of PLA after chain extension. The dosage of the chain extender (HSMG) in PLA was varied to investigate its effect on the crystallization behavior of PLA via differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM), and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The results indicated that incorporating HSMG into PLA significantly altered its crystallization behavior, without significantly changing its crystal structure.