Physico‐Mechanical Properties of Biodegradable Rubber Toughened Polymers

Abstract

Summary: In this study, blends of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) (PBAT) were studied for their mechanical and thermal properties as a function of the PBAT content. Tensile testing, impact testing, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMTA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the blends. It was observed that PLA/PBAT blends maintained quite high modulus and tensile strength compared to pure PLA. Small amounts of PBAT improved the elongation at break and the impact resistance showing a debonding effect typical of rubber toughened systems.

Optimising Ductility of Poly(Lactic Acid)/Poly(Butylene Adipate-co-Terephthalate) Blends Through Co-continuous Phase Morphology

“…Yeh et al [13] reported that PBAT molecules are miscible with PLA molecules up to 2.5 wt% addition of PBAT but above this amount phase separated droplets can be distinguished. Also phase separated 'sea-island' morphologies are reported in other studies [14,15] indicating that miscibility between PLA and PBAT is limited.…”

“…They obtained the best tensile and impact strength in the blend containing a PBAT content of 70 wt%. Farselti et al [14] found that elongation-to-break increased from 3% (pure PLA) to 45% at a PLA/PBAT blend ratio of 80/20, which they attributed to a rubber toughening effect because of the small spherical inclusions of PBAT in the PLA matrix. They also found an increase in the critical strain energy release rate (G IC ) with increasing PBAT content, which they ascribed to a debonding effect between the phases.…”

Biocomposites From Switchgrass and Lignin Hybrid and Poly(butylene succinate) Bioplastic: Studies on Reactive Compatibilization and Performance Evaluation

“…As biofiller incorporation reduces the impact strength of polymer and our research objective was to obtain a material with nearly similar properties of PBS 1020, basing on our experimental results as discussed below a blend of PBS 1020 and PBS 1001 was selected as matrix polymer. Blending technology is often used to obtain materials with toughness and stiffness balance as well as to manipulate the properties of materials . However, phase separation is an issue when two different polymers are used in the blend.…”

Effect of the Chemical Structure of Compatibilizers on the Thermal, Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Immiscible PLA/PCL Blends

“…However, PLA shows brittleness and poor toughness, which limits its usage for applications that require a complete range of mechanical behavior, especially ductility . The melt mixing of the PLA with flexible polymers is the most widespread and economic technique for overcoming its mechanical limitations .…”

“…However, PLA shows brittleness and poor toughness, which limits its usage for applications that require a complete range of mechanical behavior, especially ductility. [6][7][8][9] The melt mixing of the PLA with flexible polymers is the most widespread and economic technique for overcoming its mechanical limitations. [10,11] Blends of PLA and flexible poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) have drawn increasing interest as biomaterials, since PCL is also biodegradable, biocompatible and bioabsorbable.…”