On the relationship between crystalline structure and amorphous phase dynamics during isothermal crystallization of bacterial poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) copolymers.

The isothermal crystallization process of a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) copolymer, P(HB-co-HV) with a HB/HV ratio 78/22 was investigated by simultaneous small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), and dielectric spectroscopy (DS). By use of this experimental setup (SWD), we have obtained simultaneous information about changes occurring in both the crystalline and the amorphous phases during crystallization. By using the Havriliak-Negami formalism to analyze the dielectric relaxation data, a strong dependence of the relaxation curve shape with the development of the crystalline phase was found. However, in this particular copolymer, the developing crystalline domains do not affect significantly the average segmental mobility in the amorphous phase. This effect is discussed in the light of the enrichment of amorphous phase by HV comonomer units during primary crystallization, hindering the secondary crystallization processes. Results support the hypothesis that the decrease of the physical-aging-like behavior, observed in P(HB-co-HV) copolymers as the amount of HV increases, can be attributed to the progressive inhibition of secondary crystallization mechanisms.