Morphology, Thermo-Mechanical Properties and Biodegradibility of PCL/PLA Blends Reactively Compatibilized by Different Organic Peroxides

Reactive blending is a promising approach for the sustainable development of bio-based polymer blends and composites, which currently is gaining more and more attention. In this paper, biodegradable blends based on poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) were prepared via reactive ble...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials 2021-07, Vol.14 (15), p.4205
Main Authors: Przybysz-Romatowska, Marta, Barczewski, Mateusz, Mania, Szymon, Tercjak, Agnieszka, Haponiuk, Józef, Formela, Krzysztof
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
Atomic force microscopy
Biodegradability
Biodegradation
Biopolymers
Blending
Crystallization
Free radicals
Hexanes
Mechanical properties
Microscopy
Miscibility
Morphology
Organic peroxides
Peroxides
Polyesters
Polylactic acid
Polymer blends
Polymer matrix composites
Rheology
Sustainable development
Tensile tests
Thermogravimetric analysis
Thermogravimetry
Thermomechanical properties
Viscosity
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Summary:Reactive blending is a promising approach for the sustainable development of bio-based polymer blends and composites, which currently is gaining more and more attention. In this paper, biodegradable blends based on poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) were prepared via reactive blending performed in an internal mixer. The PCL and PLA content varied in a ratio of 70/30 and 55/45. Reactive modification of PCL/PLA via liquid organic peroxides (OP) including 0.5 wt.% of tert-butyl cumyl peroxide (BU), 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-di-(tert-butylperoxy)-hexane (HX), and tert-butyl peroxybenzoate (PB) is reported. The materials were characterized by rotational rheometer, atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermogravimetry (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), tensile tests and biodegradability tests. It was found that the application of peroxides improves the miscibility between PCL and PLA resulted in enhanced mechanical properties and more uniform morphology. Moreover, it was observed that the biodegradation rate of PCL/PLA blends reactively compatibilized was lower comparing to unmodified samples and strongly dependent on the blend ratio and peroxide structure. The presented results confirmed that reactive blending supported by organic peroxide is a promising approach for tailoring novel biodegradable polymeric systems with controllable biodegradation rates.
ISSN:1996-1944
1996-1944
DOI:10.3390/ma14154205