Effects of Hydrogen Bond Intermolecular Interactions on the Crystal Spherulite of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and Cellulose Acetate Butyrate Blends: Studied by FT-IR and FT-NIR Imaging Spectroscopy

Abstract

The crystal melting behaviors of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) blends were studied using infrared (IR) and near-infrared (NIR) imaging, which provided information about spherulite growth in dynamic blend systems. By analyzing the changes in the IR and NIR imaging spectra in the regions of the first and second overtones of the CO stretching vibrations of PHB and CAB, the evolution of heterogeneous spherulite during the time-resolved isothermal crystallization process was explored. Time-resolved IR and NIR imaging and polarized microscopic studies detected the PHB domains are able to separate from the PHB/CAB blends early in the process. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to classify the distribution of the different morphologies of spherulite. The first principal component suggests that the discrimination of the imaging spectra relies largely upon the crystallinity, while the second principal component indicates the variations in the amorphous portion of PHB, the CAB contents, and the intermolecular hydrogen bonding of PHB and CAB. The PC1–PC2 scores of different parts of the spherulite suggest that the areas of low crystallinity in the blend spherulite contain both PHB and CAB.

Properties of melt-processed poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate)/starch 1:1 blend nanocomposites

“…An increase in toughness, flexibility and processability, and a reduction in crystallinity and brittleness were observed for copolymers with a relatively small amount of those comonomers [6] . To improve the properties of PHAs, composites [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] and polymer blends [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] were also studied. For composites, an increase of 175% in the tensile modulus and of 9 ºC in the heat deflection temperature in relation to the neat polymer was achieved for PHBV loaded with bamboo fiber at 40% content [9] .…”

Recent Strategies for the Development of Biosourced-Monomers, Oligomers and Polymers-Based Materials: A Review with an Innovation and a Bigger Data Focus

“…Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxy-hexanoate)/Poly(vinyl phenol) [210] Thermoplastic phenol formaldehyde resin/(PCL) [211] Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate)/PLA [212] Polyhydroxybutyrate(PHB/PLA) [213] PLA/Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) [214] PHB/PCL [215] PLA/(PEG) [216] PHB/PBS [217] PHB/Cellulose acetate butyrate [218] PLA/Poly(epichlorohydrin-co-ethylene oxide) (PEEO) [219] Poly(propylene carbonate)/Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) [220] [221]…”

Recent Progress of Near-Infrared (NIR) Imaging —Development of Novel Instruments and Their Applicability for Practical Situations—

“…4,9,[25][26][27][28][29][30] In polymer science and technology it has been used to investigate the phase separation, miscibility, and morphology of polymer blends. [31][32][33] With this technique, researchers can easily obtain information about the distribution of different components or the different polymer morphologies in blends. For example, Suttiwijitpukdee et al 31 explored the effects of intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions on the crystal spherulite of poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and cellulose acetate butyrate blends by using IR and NIR imaging spectroscopy.…”

“…[31][32][33] With this technique, researchers can easily obtain information about the distribution of different components or the different polymer morphologies in blends. For example, Suttiwijitpukdee et al 31 explored the effects of intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions on the crystal spherulite of poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and cellulose acetate butyrate blends by using IR and NIR imaging spectroscopy. Additionally, it is possible to explore dynamic processes such as polymer dissolution and crystallization.…”