Abstract:
ABSTRACT: Poly(L-lactide-b-dimethylsiloxane-b-L-lactide)
(PLLA-b-PDMS-b-PLLA) triblock copolymer was synthesized
by ring-opening polymerization of L-lactide using bis-
(hydroxyalkyl)-terminated PDMS as a macroinitiator. The
block copolymer was immiscible in the melt, and the melt
morphology was preserved upon cooling the melt to −120 °C. It
was also observed that at moderate cooling rates PDMS and
PLLA blocks remain in the amorphous phase at temperatures
below −120 °C. The breakout and preservation of the
nanostructure morphology of the triblock copolymer have
been investigated by variable temperature small-angle and wideangle
X-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS) during heating. The
crystallization and melting of PDMS block occurred within the confined space entrenched by the amorphous PLLA block in the
temperature range from −120 to 40 °C by preserving the microphase-separated morphology. At around the glass transition
temperature of PLLA (∼45 °C), chain stretching of PLLA and PDMS took place, resulting in the sudden increase of the lamellar
long period. In this temperature region, amorphous PLLA transiently transformed to the mesophase structure that resulted in the
increase of PLLA domain thickness. At higher temperature, the morphological perturbation was induced by the breakout
crystallization of PLLA block. In addition, the effect of isothermal cold crystallization temperatures on the polymorphic behavior
of PLLA in PLLA-b-PDMS-b-PLLA triblock copolymers was also investigated. It was found that the polymorphic behavior of
PLLA was not influenced much by the presence of PDMS blocks. The disordered (α′) and ordered (α) forms are formed at low
and high cold crystallization temperatures, respectively, similar to the PLLA homopolymer.
