Growth and dissolution of crystal nuclei in poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) in Tammann's development method

By fast scanning calorimetry (FSC), the influence of the transfer of nuclei from the nucleation stage at low temperature to the growth stage at higher temperature was systematically studied. Heating rates above 1000 K s−1 are sufficient to prevent growth of crystal nuclei at the transfer from 60 °C to 125 °C in Poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA). The critical heating rate for preventing nuclei growth is about 1000 times higher than the critical heating rate to prevent crystal growth in a nucleated sample on heating. In a second experiment, the cluster size distribution after isothermal nucleation of PLLA at 60 °C for 1000 s was estimated. In the temperature interval from 125 °C to 145 °C, the density of critical nuclei decreases from the initial value ∼4 × 1024 m−3 to zero, as nuclei with R > 2 nm, the critical radius for 145 °C, were not formed at the nucleation temperature. [Display omitted] •Homogeneous nucleation in PLLA was studied by Tammann's nuclei development method.•The transfer heating rate from the nucleation to the development stage influences the results.•For PLLA a critical heating rate of 1000 K s−1, preventing stabilization of subcritical nuclei, was determined.•The cluster size distribution was determined based on estimates from classical nucleation theory (CNT).