title: High-speed monitoring of the crystallinity change in poly(lactic acid) during photodegradation by using a newly developed wide area NIR imaging system (Compovision).
abstract: We aimed to achieve wide area rapid monitoring of the crystallinity change in poly(lactic acid) (PLA) during photodegradation caused by ultraviolet (UV) light by using a newly developed near-infrared (NIR) camera (Compovison). Several kinds of PLA samples with different crystallinities and their blends with poly[(3)-(R)-hydroxybutyrate] were prepared. Their two-dimensional NIR spectra in the 1,000-2,350-nm region were measured by Compovision at a 5-min interval during photolysis. An intensity decrease of the band in the 1,900-1,925-nm region due to the second overtone of the C = O stretching vibration of PLA was observed during photolysis. This suggests that an anhydride carbonyl is produced during photolysis. The NIR image of the crystallinity change monitored by the band at 1,917 nm in the standard normal variate spectra clearly shows the inhomogeneity of crystal evolution. A logarithmic increase was observed for all identified areas in the PLA film; however, the time to reach the maximum crystallinity was slightly different according to the initial crystallinity of the sample. It is likely that the initial crystallinity of the sample influences the degradation speed more than the degradation amount. These imaging results have provided fundamental chemical insights into the photolytic process for PLA, and at the same time they have demonstrated that the two-dimensional spectral data obtained by Compovision are useful for process monitoring of polymers.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Agriculture, Tohoku University, 1-1, Amamiya, Tsutumidori, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 981-8555, Japan, daitaroishikawa@m.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Daitaro
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Daiki
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Tseng Tsai
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Kummetha Raghunatha
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Asako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Motomura
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.forename: Harumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Sergei G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kazarian
authors.forename: Yukihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ozaki
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization; D006885:Hydroxybutyrates / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D010782:Photolysis; D011091:Polyesters / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D000094122:Polyhydroxybutyrates
chemical_list: D006885:Hydroxybutyrates; D019344:Lactic Acid; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; C003182:poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate; D000094122:Polyhydroxybutyrates; C033616:poly(lactide)