Effect of Benzoic Acid on the Crystallization Behavior of Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate)

摘要

The effect of benzoic acid (BA) on the crystallization behavior of poly(3-hydroxybut yrate; PHB) was studied. A differential scanning calorimeter was used to monitor the crystallization kinetics and thermal behavior. During the crystallization process from the melt, the presence of BA led to a decrease of the crystallization temperature of PHB compared with that for pure PHB. From the depression of the melting and glass transition temperatures of PHB, it can be concluded that BA is miscible, and has a strong plasticization effect on PHB. Isothermal crystallization at 80°C results showed that the addition of BA caused a decrease in the overall crystallization rate of PHB. Polarized optical micrographs ofPHB/BA showed that the nucleation density of PHB spherulites decreased with increasing weight percentage of BA.