Polyglycolide as a Biodegradable Nucleating Agent for Poly(L-lactide)

DSC indicated that the nucleation of PLLA is enhanced in the presence of PGA even at a PGA content as low as 0.1 wt.-%. However, the enhancing behavior of PGA was different to that of other nucleating agents for PLLA. Polarized optical microscopy revealed that the presence of PGA increased the number of PLLA spherulites per unit area. WAXD showed that in the PLLA/PGA films, PLLA and PGA crystallize separately to form their respective crystallites and PGA crystallites were formed at a PGA content at above 3 wt.-% (at least) FTIR spectroscopy indicated that that there are significant interactions between PLLA and PGA chains in amorphous regions. Such interactions should have enhanced the growth of PLLA crystallites from the surface of PGA crystallites.