Melt Spinning of Bacterial Aliphatic Polyester Using Reactive Extrusion for Improvement of Crystallization

Abstract

This paper reports on an attempt to use reactive extrusion with peroxide as a comfortable pathway for improvement of the crystallization of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) in a melt spinning process. At first, rheological and thermal properties of the modified melts are determined in order to assess the effect of nucleation. Then spinning tests are carried out. Molecular weights and molecular weight distributions of the spun fibers are determined by chromatographic methods. Average crystallite size is measured by wide angle X-ray scattering. Thermal and textile properties of the spun PHB fibers are also determined. An estimation of the improvement of the crystallization in the spinline and of the inhibition of the secondary crystallization in the fibers from the use of the described way of reactive extrusion is given.

Properties and structure of polylactide/poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PLA/PHBV) blend fibers

“…However, the crystallinity of the neat PHBV or PHB fibers was reported [46,[56][57][58][59] to be ca. 50% or higher.…”

“…This may be due to the rather poor melt-spinnability of PHBV or PHB [46]. Additionally, the PHBV fibers would become rigid and fragile as the secondary crystallization proceeded [46], which made the idea of optimizing PLA fibers with PHBV sound incredible.…”

“…This may be due to the rather poor melt-spinnability of PHBV or PHB [46]. Additionally, the PHBV fibers would become rigid and fragile as the secondary crystallization proceeded [46], which made the idea of optimizing PLA fibers with PHBV sound incredible. However, it should be learnt from polymer alloys such as the high impact polystyrene (HIPS) that the macroscopic properties can be overwhelmingly modified by the judicious manipulation of microstructures.…”

Plastics Completely Synthesized by Bacteria: Polyhydroxyalkanoates

“…PHB fibers stretched after isothermal crystallization had the oriented a-form crystal with the 2(1) helix conformation and the b-form with the planar zigzag conformation. Vogel et al (2007) attempted to use reactive extrusion with peroxide as a comfortable pathway for improvement of the crystallization of PHB in a melt spinning process. They succeeded in improving the crystallization in the spinline and of the inhibition of the secondary crystallization in the fibers.…”

Melt Spinning of Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) for Tissue Engineering Using Electron‐Beam‐Irradiated Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) as Nucleation Agent

“…The results of mechanical testing also revealed that these nucleated fibers are well suited for textile processing, but the method required a large expenditure for manufacturing of the α ‐cyclodextrin/PHB inclusion complexes. The same authors16 also reported on an attempt to use reactive extrusion with peroxide as a convenient pathway for improvement of the crystallization of poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) in a melt‐spinning process. They found that the crystallization parameters of PHB fibers were dramatically improved by the change of molecular structure as a consequence of reactive extrusion.…”