Effects of Different Nucleating Agents, Annealing and Pre-stretching Process on the Crystallinity and Mechanical Properties of Poly(butylene carbonate)
RESEARCH ARTICLE|Updated:2026-05-12
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Effects of Different Nucleating Agents, Annealing and Pre-stretching Process on the Crystallinity and Mechanical Properties of Poly(butylene carbonate)
Chinese Journal of Polymer ScienceVol. 44, Issue 8, Pages: 2704-2713(2026)
Affiliations:
a.Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China
b.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101400, China
Wu, R.; Jiang, Q. Y.; Zou, S.; Bai, W.; Wang, Q. Y.; Wang, G. Y.; Liu, S. Y. Effects of different nucleating agents, annealing and pre-stretching process on the crystallinity and mechanical properties of poly(butylene carbonate). Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2704–2713
Rong Wu, Qin-Yao Jiang, Sheng Zou, et al. Effects of Different Nucleating Agents, Annealing and Pre-stretching Process on the Crystallinity and Mechanical Properties of Poly(butylene carbonate)[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(8): 2704-2713.
Wu, R.; Jiang, Q. Y.; Zou, S.; Bai, W.; Wang, Q. Y.; Wang, G. Y.; Liu, S. Y. Effects of different nucleating agents, annealing and pre-stretching process on the crystallinity and mechanical properties of poly(butylene carbonate). Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2704–2713DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3680-z.
Rong Wu, Qin-Yao Jiang, Sheng Zou, et al. Effects of Different Nucleating Agents, Annealing and Pre-stretching Process on the Crystallinity and Mechanical Properties of Poly(butylene carbonate)[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(8): 2704-2713.DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3680-z.
Effects of Different Nucleating Agents, Annealing and Pre-stretching Process on the Crystallinity and Mechanical Properties of Poly(butylene carbonate)
Nucleating agents enhance poly(butylene carbonate) (PBC) performance with annealing and stretching
improving crystallinity and mechanical properties. PBC/SiO
2
strength rose to 61.96 MPa (annealed) and 83.26 MPa (stretched)
though agent dispersion varies.
Abstract
Poly(butylene carbonate) (PBC)
a biodegradable aliphatic polycarbonate
is limite
d by its suboptimal thermal and mechanical properties. This study enhanced PBC by incorporating nanoscale nucleating agents combined with isothermal annealing and pre-stretching. The results indicate that the dispersion and interfacial interactions of different nucleating agents within the PBC matrix vary significantly. Among them
SiO
2
demonstrate good dispersion and compatibility
effectively enhancing the storage modulus and crystallization kinetics. Isothermal annealing and pre-stretching treatments further synergistically improved the crystallinity and mechanical performance of the composites: after annealing
the tensile strength of PBC/SiO
2
increased to 61.96 MPa
and after pre-stretching
it reached 83.26 MPa. Dynamic mechanical analysis and differential scanning calorimetry results consistently show that the incorporation of nucleating agents raises the glass transition temperature and thermal stability of the materials. This research provides systematic experimental evidence and process optimization strategies for the high-performance modification of PBC.
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