Effect of Babassu on PLA Cold Crystallization

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) based vegetal Babassu composites were compounded in this work. Babassu acted as an effective nucleating agent and improver for the whole nonisothermal cold crystallization of PLA. The nonisothermal cold crystallization of PLA compounds was investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and the activation energy was evaluated by Friedman equation. The crystallization rate of PLA increased upon increasing the heating rates as well as adding Babassu. From a Friedman analysis was shown that Babassu reduces the activation energy of the crystallization process, leading to a shorter crystallization time. As Babassu is inexpensive filler its composites costs less than neat PLA additionally being productively less time and energy consuming.