Effect of annealing on fracture mechanism of biodegradable poly(lactic acid)

Effect of annealing on the fracture behavior of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was investigated. Fracture toughness of PLA samples prepared under different annealing conditions was measured under static and dynamic loadings. Microstructure and crack growth behavior were characterized by polarizing microscopy (POM). Crystallinity was determined by DSC analysis. Fracture surface morphology was also studied by scanning electron microscopy. It was shown that the static fracture toughness increased with increase of crystallinity, while the dynamic toughness increased as crystallinity increased. POM exhibited that craze formation played an important role in the fracture mechanism of amorphous samples. Macroscopic fracture toughness and microscopic crack growth mechanism were correlated on the basis of these experimental results, and effect of annealing on the toughness and mechanism were discussed.