Orientation and structure development in poly(lactide) under uniaxial deformation

Semicrystalline poly(l-lactide), or PLLA, is used in many biomedical applications, including self-expanding stents. A network model is applied to describe the deformation behaviour of semicrystalline poly(l-lactide) obtained at different drawing temperatures. Based on the present results, it is suggested that the deformation behaviour of PLLA appears to follow pseudo-affine model at the macroscopic level, but it does not follow it at the molecular level. The development of molecular orientation during drawing in both crystalline and amorphous phases was characterized by means of optical birefringence and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). In general, high orientation is achieved at the higher drawing temperature and it is found that the crystalline and amorphous phases respond differently to network deformation. At moderate deformation temperature, the development of crystalline orientation increases slowly at a low stretch ratio followed by a rapid rise in the degree of orientation as a result of crystal rotation and crystal slip, while the amorphous chains deform in pseudo-affine manner. Drawing at a high temperature shows rapid crystalline orientation development, even at a low stretch ratio of 1.5, while molecular alignment develops steadily in the amorphous phase.