N,N'-Bis(benzoyl) suberic acid dihydrazide (NA) as nucleating agent for poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) was synthesized from benzoyl hydrazine and suberoyl chloride, which was deprived from suberic acid via acylation. PLLA/NA samples were prepared by melt blending and a hot-press forming process. The nonisothermal and isothermal crystallization, spherulite morphology, and melting behavior of PLLA/NA with different contents of NA were investigated with differential scanning calorimetry, depolarized-light intensity measurement, scanning electron microscopy, polarized optical microscopy, and wide-angle X-ray diffraction. With the incorporation of NA, the crystallization peak became sharper and shifted to a higher temperature as the degree of supercooling decreased at a cooling rate of 1 degrees C/min from the melt. Nonisothermal crystallization indicated that the presence of NA accelerated the overall PLLA crystallization. In isothermal crystallization from the melt, the presence of NA affected the isothermal crystalline behaviors of PLLA remarkably. The addition of NA led to a shorter crystallization time and a faster overall crystallization rate; this meant that there was a heterogeneous nucleation effect of NA on the crystallization of PLLA. With the addition of 0.8% NA, the crystallization half-time of PLLA/NA decreased from 26.5 to 1.4 min at 115 degrees C. The Avrami theory was used to describe the kinetics of isothermal crystallization of the PLLA/NA samples. Also, with the presence of NA, the spherulite number of PLLA increased, and the spherulite size decreased significantly. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 121: 1408-1416, 2011