Increased processing temperature assisted reactive toughening of poly(lactic acid)

Toughening efficiency of poly(ethylene-n-butylene-acrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate) (EBA-GMA) in poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrix has been found to significantly increase at elevated blending temperature. In the case of PLA/EBAGMA blends having 10.0 or 12.5 wt% EBA-GMA contents, the accelerated PLA d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Express polymer letters 2023-02, Vol.17 (2), p.169-180
Main Authors: Lukács, Nóra, Decsov, Kata Enikő, Molnár, Béla, Ronkay, Ferenc, Bordácsné Bocz, Katalin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
Biopolymers
biopolymers, biocomposites
Blending effects
Compatibility
Crosslinking
Crystallization
Ductile-brittle transition
Efficiency
Elastomers
Elongation
Impact strength
Investigations
Mechanical properties
Melt flow index
Morphology
Nucleation
Polylactic acid
Polymers
processing technologies
Rheology
Tensile strength
Terpolymers
thermal properties
Thermally stimulated depolarization current
Viscosity
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Summary:Toughening efficiency of poly(ethylene-n-butylene-acrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate) (EBA-GMA) in poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrix has been found to significantly increase at elevated blending temperature. In the case of PLA/EBAGMA blends having 10.0 or 12.5 wt% EBA-GMA contents, the accelerated PLA degradation at raised processing temperature resulted in reduced mechanical performance. At 15.0 wt% EBA-GMA ratio, however, increased elongation and by 250% improved notched Izod impact strength was achieved when the blending temperature was raised from 240 to 260 °C. This beneficial effect is attributed to the accelerated compatibilization reactions between the components in the presence of shortchain PLA molecules, which allow the rapid formation of a toughening enhancer interphase (TEI) during melt processing. As a result, the brittle-ductile transition can be reached at lower elastomer content than expected. Decreased melt flow index (MFI) values besides stabilized blend morphology indicated efficient PLA-EBA-GMA compatibilization at elevated processing temperature. Accordingly, enhanced nucleation ability of the PLA/EBA-GMA interphase and hindered chain crystallization of PLA were found by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses. In association with the intensified compatibilization reactions cross-linking of the terpolymer was also revealed using the thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) technique.
ISSN:1788-618X
1788-618X
DOI:10.3144/expresspolymlett.2023.12