Crystallization behaviour of cellulose acetate butylate/poly(butylene succinate)-co-(butylene carbonate) blends

The kinetics of the isothermal crystallization process from the melt of pure poly(butylene succinate)-co-(butylene carbonate) (PBS-co-BC) and its blends with cellulose acetate butylate (CAB) (10–30 wt%) was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the well-known Avrami equation. In the blends, the overall crystallization rate of PBS-co-BC became slower with increasing CAB content. The equilibrium melting temperature (T eq m ) of PBS-co-BC decreased with increasing CAB content, which was similar to that with other miscible crystalline/amorphous polymer blends. The slower crystallization kinetics of PBS-co-BC in the blends was explicable in terms of a diluent effect of the CAB component. By application of Turnbull–Fisher kinetic theory for polymer–diluent blend systems, the surface free energy (σe) of pure PBS-co-BC and of the blends was obtained, indicating that the blend with CAB resulted in a decrease in the surface free energy of folding of PBS-co-BC lamellar crystals.  2006 Society of Chemical Industry