Effects of Annealing on the Crystallization and Morphology of Electrospun Poly(L-lactic acid) Fibers

Abstract:

Biodegradable polymeric nanofibers produced by electrospinning have been used as scaffolds for tissue engineering. As one kind of biodegradable material, electrospun polylatic acid fibers have an important application on biomedical materials. For better application of this kind of material, the properties of annealed electrspun poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) was studied in this investigation. The material properties of as-spun and annealed nanofibers were studied using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). Thermal and XRD analysis revealed that PLLA as-spun fiber exhibited amorphous phase and began to crystalline when annealing temperature was above its glass transition temperature. SEM measurements of annealed fibers showed that fusion among fibers occurred when annealing temperature was too high.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 745-746)
• Pages: 473-477
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.745-746.473
• Online since: February 2013
• Authors: Feng Su, Hao Yu, Shu Qi Zhu, Wen Juan Chen, Fang Huang, Mei Fang Zhu
• Keywords: Annealing, Crystallization, Elctrospinning, Morpholoy, Poly(L-lactic acid)

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