Unzipping the fundamental mechanism of unreported anisotropic stereocomplexation in polylactide fibers using time and space resolved nanofoc

Stereocomplex (SC) crystallization is unique to a few, mainly biobased polymers like polylactide (PLA). It relies on increased packing density of stereochemically opposite helical conformations. In our research we aim to justify higher costs of new biobased polymers by outperforming fossil-based materials. SC across interfaces during processing renders unmet design opportunities and outperformance, e.g. in 3D printing. Synchrotron WAXD imaging assisted to overcome poor weld strength via interfacial diffusion and SC. By spinning so called islands-in-the-sea fibers using two opposite stereospecific PLAs, we found a new method to make SC fibers with high expectations. To time SC during spinning, we aim to unravel the unreported fundamental mechanism of anisotropic SC in (sub)micron scale as function of time and space using combined SAXS/WAXD, a nanodiameter X-ray beam and the fast scanning calorimeter of ID13. We also request 3 extra shifts to complete our time resolved images of MA6424.