Fabrication and Characterization of Biodegradable PLA/PBSL/HAp Nanocomposites Kartik Behera1, Fang-Chyou Chiu1,2* 1Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, 333, Taiwan 2Department of General Dentistry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan *maxson@mail.cgu.edu.tw Abstract The blends/composites of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with poly(butylene succinate-co-L-lactate) (PBSL) and HAp were prepared by conventional melt mixing process. Thermal properties (thermal stability, crystallization, and melting behavior), phase morphology, crystal structure and in-vitro biodegradability of the prepared samples were characterized. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) data shows that addition of HAp increases the thermal stability of the samples under both air and nitrogen environments. The activation energy for thermal degradation increases with increasing the HAp content in the samples. Scanning electron microscopy results demonstrate that HAp is distributed randomly in both PLA and PBSL phases, and PBSL domain size decreases with increasing HAp content in the composites. The isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics and melting behavior of PLA in different samples were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) under different crystallization conditions. The Avrami analysis reveals the n values of the samples are in the range of 2.1-3.9. The activation energy for nonisothermal crystallization result shows that activation energy decreases with increasing HAp content of the prepared composites. X-ray diffraction results confirm that the crystal structures of PLA and PBSL remain in the blends and composites. Finally, the biodegradability results show that the HAp addition increases the hydrolytic degradation rate of the prepared composites. References 1. H . Pan, and Z. Qiu, Macromolecules, 43, 1499 (2010). 2. F.C. Chiu, Q. Fu, Y. Peng, and H.H. Shih, J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys., 40, 325 (2002)