Mechanical properties and thermal characteristics of poly(lactic acid) and paraffin wax blends prepared by conventional melt compounding and sub-critical gas-assisted processing (SGAP)

Improving the processibility and mechanical properties of poly(lactic acid)/linear low‐density polyethylene/paraffin wax blends by subcritical gas‐assisted processing

“…Interestingly, after adding PW to the PLA/LLDPE blends, the tendency of the Young's modulus of the PLA/LLDPE/PW and F‐PLA/LLDPE/PW blends differed, yet the area under curve of both blends increased. The previous research found that with a 20% PW content in the PLA matrix, the Young's modulus was slightly higher than that of neat PLA. Additionally, from the SEM images, the SGAP‐processed blends exhibited better phase dispersion.…”

“…The differences were caused by the distribution of LLDPE in the blends. In the SGAP process, the equibiaxial extensional flow resulted in a better phase dispersion of LLDPE in the blends, which yielded a higher thermal resistance and thus a lower gap difference and slower weight loss.…”

“…Such modifications include blending it with other fillers and polymers such as organic montmorillonite (nanoclay) , graphite , bamboo fibers , talc , natural rubber , polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) , polystyrene (PS) , polypropylene (PP) , poly(ɛ‐caprolactone) (PCL) , poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) , thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and introducing foaming agent . Previous studies have shown that paraffin wax (PW) is capable of improving the ductility and fluidity of PLA matrices . However, PLA and PW are immiscible, thus the low melting temperature of PW (at around 55°C) poses processing difficulties and/or practical application limitations on PLA/PW blends.…”

“…This SGAP method introduced atmospheric gases such as nitrogen (N 2 ) or carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) at a subcritical state as the physical blowing agent into the extruder barrel to facilitate the dispersion of PW and LLDPE by adding elongational stresses through bubble expansion during extrusion . Based on our previous studies , the SGAP process facilitated better and more uniform dispersion of fillers in the polymer matrix, resulting in improved morphology, crystallinity, thermal resistance, and mechanical properties.…”

Blends of Poly(vinyl Pyridine)s and Dihydric Phenols: Thermal and Infrared Spectroscopic Studies. Part V

“…In the field of the polymer-LMWC blends, many works are focused on possible applications and not so much on the molecular characterization of interactions. LMWCs are added as additives to improve the properties of the polymeric component [6,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Consequently, polymer-LMWC blends with different practical applications have been reported: controlled drug devices [38][39][40][41][42], regenerative medicine [43], electronic devices [44], hemodialysis applications [45], etc.…”