Biodegradable poly (butylene succinate-co-cyclohexanedimethylene succinate): Synthesis, crystallization, morphology, and rheology

ABSTRACT Poly (butylene succinate‐co‐cyclohexanedimethylene succinate) (PBCSs), which are composed of various amounts of cyclohexanedimethylene succinate (CS) with butylene succinate (BS) were synthesized via polycondensation. The composition of PBCSs was analyzed by a 1H‐nuclear magnetic resonance (1H‐NMR). Crystallization, morphology, and rheological properties of PBCSs were investigated by a polarized optical microscopy (POM), a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), a X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and a parallel‐plate rheometer (PPR). The studies revealed that the composition of PBCSs played an important role in controlling their properties. Only one Tg can be seen for PBCSs by DSC, which demonstrate they are miscible copolymers. PBCSs exhibited lower crystallization capacity than its homopolyesters either Poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) or poly (cyclohexanedimethylene succinate) (PCS). It also proved that the cyclohexyl group of CHDM not only affected the crystalline formation, but also changed spherulitic morphology during crystallization. The spherulitic size gradually decreased with an increase of CS content. When CS content approached 50 wt %, the crystallization ability reached minimum. By comparing the effect of temperature with shear rate, it concluded that the viscosities of PBCSs were more sensitive to temperature rather than shear rate, and flow activation energies of PBCSs linearly increased with an increase of CS content. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40103.