Super-Toughened Poly(lactic Acid) with Poly(ε-caprolactone) and Ethylene-Methyl Acrylate-Glycidyl Methacrylate by Reactive Melt Blending

Abstract

In recent years, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) has attracted more and more attention as one of the most promising biobased and biodegradable polymers. However, the inherent brittleness significantly limits its wide application. Here, ternary blends of PLA, poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) with various amounts of ethylene-methyl acrylate-glycidyl methacrylate (EMA-GMA) terpolymer were fabricated through reactive melt blending in order to improve the toughness of PLA. The effect of different addition amounts of EMA-GMA on the mechanical properties, interfacial compatibility and phase morphology of PLA/PCL blends were studied. The reactions between the epoxy groups of EMA-GMA and carboxyl and hydroxyl end groups of PLA and PCL were investigated thorough a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR). The miscibility and thermal behavior of the blends were studied through a dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The phase morphology and impact fracture surface of the blends were also investigated through a scanning electron microscope (SEM). With the addition of 8 phr EMA-GMA, a PLA/PCL (90 wt %:10 wt %)/EMA-GMA ternary blend presenting a suitable multiple stacked phase structure with an optimum interfacial adhesion exhibited an elongation at break of 500.94% and a notched impact strength of 64.31 kJ/m2 with a partial break impact behavior. Finally, the toughening mechanism of the supertough PLA based polymers have been established based on the above analysis.

Functionalization of Partially Bio-Based Poly(Ethylene Terephthalate) by Blending with Fully Bio-Based Poly(Amide) 10,10 and a Glycidyl Methacrylate-Based Compatibilizer

“…J. Urquijo et al demonstrated the relevance of the elongation rate on the final elongation and, regarding the impact strength, they attributed the improvement to the small particle size of PCL-rich domains embedded in the brittle PLA-rich matrix which positively contributed to absorb energy in impact conditions. Similar findings have been reported with PLA/PCL, PHB/PCL, PLA/PBS binary blends [46,47,48,49], ternary PLA/PHB/PCL blends [50], and some poly(ester) copolymers [51]. This improved toughness is more evident in an uncompatibilzed blend containing 30 wt % bioPA1010 reaching an impact strength of 40.5 kJ·m −2 (75.3% increase).…”

Highly toughened poly(lactic acid) blends prepared by reactive blending with a renewable poly(ether‐block‐amide) elastomer

“…2,3 Especially, reactive blending can effectively improve the comprehensive mechanical properties of materials through in situ reactive compatibilization. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Various polymers have been used as toughening modifiers for PLA, and a few super toughened PLA blends were reported, [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] such as PLA/POE and PLA/EMAglycidyl methacrylate (GMA) blends in our previous works, 22,23 but most of the impact modifiers used are petroleum-based polymers. Finding a renewable and/or biodegradable toughening modifier which can improve the toughness of PLA as effectively as the nonrenewable and nonbiodegradable blending partners is still a challenge.…”

Structural and Thermo-Mechanical Properties of Poly(ε-Caprolactone) Modified by Various Peroxide Initiators

“…The growing consciousness of the importance of environmental protection, as well as the impact of manufacturing and application of polymers on the state of the environment, have resulted in increased interest in the development of eco-friendly materials [1,2,3,4]. Attention-grabbing aliphatic polyesters, especially poly(lactic acid) (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoates including poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), or poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) are biodegradable linear polymers, obtained from both renewable and petroleum sources [5,6,7].…”