{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T14:47:09Z","timestamp":1785422829057,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,28]],"date-time":"2026-06-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782604800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009608","name":"Western Washington University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["MS0233"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MS0233"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009608","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["MS0233"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MS0233"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05wn7r715","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study examines the effects of 2 wt% orotic acid (OA) nucleation and injection molding conditions on the crystallization behavior and thermo-mechanical performance of polylactic acid (PLA). Differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction revealed that 2 wt.% OA accelerates crystallization, enabling molded PLA to achieve crystallinity levels as high as 52\u201353% under low packing pressure and long hold time. Mechanical testing showed that tensile modulus increased with longer hold time, while tensile strength decreased due to constrained relaxation in the skin layer. Flexural strength increased with packing pressure, whereas flexural modulus decreased as the degree of crystallinity decreased under higher pressure conditions. Heat deflection temperature (HDT) showed the greatest sensitivity to processing, rising from 58 \u00b0C to 100\u2013131 \u00b0C in optimized PLA\u2013OA samples. The highest HDT values occurred under conditions that promoted both high crystallinity and extended lamellar development with strong \u03b1-phase formation. These results demonstrate that combining OA nucleation with controlled injection molding enables high-crystallinity, high-HDT PLA without post-annealing, offering a viable route for producing thermally stable PLA components suitable for hot-fill and reheatable food packaging applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym18131607","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]],"date-time":"2026-06-29T00:54:42Z","timestamp":1782694482000},"page":"1607","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Enhancing Mechanical and Thermal Performance of Injection-Molded PLA via Nucleation and Processing Optimization"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Peng","family":"Gao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Materials Science Engineering, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Max","family":"Johnson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Materials Science Engineering, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Duncan","family":"Woodward","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Materials Science Engineering, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-7844-7558","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicholas","family":"Gajkowski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Materials Science Engineering, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA"},{"name":"Polymer Science & Engineering, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mia","family":"Knipe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Materials Science Engineering, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Armstrong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Materials Science Engineering, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Leia","family":"Kaminsky","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Materials Science Engineering, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1016\/j.addr.2016.04.003","article-title":"PLA composites: From production to properties","volume":"107","author":"Murariu","year":"2016","journal-title":"Adv. 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