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Microstructural Evolution of Poly(ε-Caprolactone), Its Immiscible Blend, and In Situ Generated Nanocomposites

Polymer–polymer systems with special phase morphology were prepared, leading to an exceptional combination of strength, modulus, and ductility. Two immiscible polymers: poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) were used as components for manufacturing a nanoblend and a nanocomposite...

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Autores principales: Vozniak, Iurii, Hosseinnezhad, Ramin, Morawiec, Jerzy, Galeski, Andrzej
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7694185/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33158123
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym12112587
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author Vozniak, Iurii
Hosseinnezhad, Ramin
Morawiec, Jerzy
Galeski, Andrzej
author_facet Vozniak, Iurii
Hosseinnezhad, Ramin
Morawiec, Jerzy
Galeski, Andrzej
author_sort Vozniak, Iurii
collection PubMed
description Polymer–polymer systems with special phase morphology were prepared, leading to an exceptional combination of strength, modulus, and ductility. Two immiscible polymers: poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) were used as components for manufacturing a nanoblend and a nanocomposite characterized by nanodroplet-matrix and nanofibril-matrix morphologies, respectively. Nanofibrils were formed by high shear of nanodroplets at sufficiently low temperature to stabilize their fibrillar shape by shear-induced crystallization. The effects of nanodroplet vs. nanofiber morphology on the tensile mechanical behavior of the nanocomposites were elucidated with the help of in situ 2D small-angle X-ray scattering, microcalorimetry and 2D wide-angle X-ray diffraction. For neat PCL and a PCL/PHA blend, the evolution of the structure under uniaxial tension was accompanied by extensive fragmentation of crystalline lamellae with the onset at strain e = 0.1. Limited lamellae fragmentation in the PCL/PHA composite occurred continuously over a wide range of deformations (e = 0.1–1.1) and facilitated plastic flow of the composite and was associated with the presence of a PHA nanofiber network that transferred local stress to the PCL lamellae, enforcing their local deformation. The PHA nanofibers acted as crystallization nuclei for PCL during their strain-induced melting–recrystallization.
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spelling pubmed-76941852020-11-28 Microstructural Evolution of Poly(ε-Caprolactone), Its Immiscible Blend, and In Situ Generated Nanocomposites Vozniak, Iurii Hosseinnezhad, Ramin Morawiec, Jerzy Galeski, Andrzej Polymers (Basel) Article Polymer–polymer systems with special phase morphology were prepared, leading to an exceptional combination of strength, modulus, and ductility. Two immiscible polymers: poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) were used as components for manufacturing a nanoblend and a nanocomposite characterized by nanodroplet-matrix and nanofibril-matrix morphologies, respectively. Nanofibrils were formed by high shear of nanodroplets at sufficiently low temperature to stabilize their fibrillar shape by shear-induced crystallization. The effects of nanodroplet vs. nanofiber morphology on the tensile mechanical behavior of the nanocomposites were elucidated with the help of in situ 2D small-angle X-ray scattering, microcalorimetry and 2D wide-angle X-ray diffraction. For neat PCL and a PCL/PHA blend, the evolution of the structure under uniaxial tension was accompanied by extensive fragmentation of crystalline lamellae with the onset at strain e = 0.1. Limited lamellae fragmentation in the PCL/PHA composite occurred continuously over a wide range of deformations (e = 0.1–1.1) and facilitated plastic flow of the composite and was associated with the presence of a PHA nanofiber network that transferred local stress to the PCL lamellae, enforcing their local deformation. The PHA nanofibers acted as crystallization nuclei for PCL during their strain-induced melting–recrystallization. MDPI 2020-11-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7694185/ /pubmed/33158123 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym12112587 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Vozniak, Iurii
Hosseinnezhad, Ramin
Morawiec, Jerzy
Galeski, Andrzej
Microstructural Evolution of Poly(ε-Caprolactone), Its Immiscible Blend, and In Situ Generated Nanocomposites
title Microstructural Evolution of Poly(ε-Caprolactone), Its Immiscible Blend, and In Situ Generated Nanocomposites
title_full Microstructural Evolution of Poly(ε-Caprolactone), Its Immiscible Blend, and In Situ Generated Nanocomposites
title_fullStr Microstructural Evolution of Poly(ε-Caprolactone), Its Immiscible Blend, and In Situ Generated Nanocomposites
title_full_unstemmed Microstructural Evolution of Poly(ε-Caprolactone), Its Immiscible Blend, and In Situ Generated Nanocomposites
title_short Microstructural Evolution of Poly(ε-Caprolactone), Its Immiscible Blend, and In Situ Generated Nanocomposites
title_sort microstructural evolution of poly(ε-caprolactone), its immiscible blend, and in situ generated nanocomposites
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7694185/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33158123
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym12112587
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