Self‐nucleation in poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) of initially different crystal forms

Abstract

Poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) (PBAT) is an important biodegradable copolymer, but its crystallization rate is slow. Herein, the effect of self‐nucleation on the crystallization behavior of PBAT with initially different crystalline modifications (melt‐crystallized specimens and as‐received pellets) was investigated. The melt‐crystallized and as‐received PBAT specimens are confirmed as the α‐ and β‐form, respectively. It is found that the self‐nucleation domains of β‐form PBAT are almost the same as those of α‐form one. After self‐nucleation, the maximum shift of the crystallization peak toward higher temperature is around 60 °C upon the followed cooling process, suggesting that self‐nucleation remarkably promotes PBAT crystallization. The self‐nucleation temperature span of self‐nucleation domain is about 10 °C, which provides substantial benefits to industrial processing. Moreover, for both the initial α‐ and β‐form PBAT, the final crystal is α‐form after self‐nucleation treatment. This work demonstrates that self‐nucleation is highly effective in enhancing PBAT crystallization.