(1) CETHIL, INSA de Lyon - Villeurbanne CEDEX - France
The Polylactide is a biosourced and biodegradable polymer, issued from renewable resources. Understanding its crystallization kinetics is a key parameter in order to tailor the final part properties versus processing conditions. We propose in this work a qualitative and quantitative study about its overall crystallization kinetics and morphology development after a shearing step. For a given shear rates (γ ̇>1/τ_s ) , the overall kinetic of crystallization versus shearing time exhibits two kinds of accelerations. The first one is related to an enhancement of the point-like nuclei and the second is related to the formation of oriented structures or Shish-Kebabs. The saturation plateau of point-like nuclei was observed by in-situ optical microscopy and the development of Row-nuclei was confirmed in this zone of shearing time. The conditions of the formation of oriented structures are discussed and the flow induced point-like nuclei was modeled. Finally, the evolution of the overall crystallization kinetics is predicted.