Crystallization kinetics and morphology studies of biodegradable poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes nanocomposites.

Biodegradable poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA)/carboxyl-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWNTs) nanocomposites were prepared through solution casting method with different f-MWNTs contents ranging from 0.5 to 2 wt%. Scanning electron microscopic observations reveal a fine dispersion of f-MWNTs throughout the PBSA matrix. Effect of f-MWNTs on the crystallization behavior of PBSA was investigated in detail via various techniques and different crystallization conditions including nonisothermal crystallization at different cooling rates and isothermal crystallization at different crystallization temperatures in this work. For both nonisothermal and isothermal melt crystallization, the addition of f-MWNTs enhances the crystallization of PBSA apparently due to their heterogeneous nucleation effect. However, the crystal structure of PBSA does not change in the nanocomposites. Moreover, an attempt was made to study the effect of the presence of f-MWNTs and their contents on the nucleation activity and crystallizability of PBSA in the nanocomposites quantitatively.