Crystallization behavior of fully biodegradable poly(lactic acid)/poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) blends

Abstract

Both poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) are fully biodegradable polyesters. The disadvantages of poor mechanical properties of PLA limit its wide application. Fully biodegradable polymer blends were prepared by blending PLA with PBAT. Crystallization behavior of neat and blended PLA was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarizing optical microscopy (POM), and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). Experiment results indicated that in comparison with neat PLA, the degree of crystallinity of PLA in various blends all markedly was increased, and the crystallization mechanism almost did not change. The equilibrium melting point of PLA initially decreased with the increase of PBAT content and then increased when PBAT content in the blends was 60 wt % compared to neat PLA. In the case of the isothermal crystallization of neat PLA and its blends at the temperature range of 123-142 C, neat PLA and its blends exhibited bell shape curves for the growth rates, and the maximum crystallization rate of neat PLA and its blends all depended on crystallization temperature and their component.

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

“…However, they found that the crystallisation rate coefficients of the blend membranes were higher than those of the original PLLA, suggesting that amorphous domains of PBAT serve as effective nucleation sites for PLLA. In their study, Xiao et al [17] observed that the degree of crystallinity of PLA in PLA/PBAT blends was markedly increased and there was found to be an increase in crystallisation rate with increase in PBAT content. Jiang et al [16] investigated recrystallization of both neat PLA and a PLA-5% PBAT blend.…”

“…For PLA, ΔH 100 = 93 J∕g and for PBAT, ΔH 100 = 114 J∕g [8,17], although, being a random co-polymer, PBAT does not crystallize to a great extent.…”

“…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. Xiao et al [17] investigated the crystallization behaviour of PLA/PBAT blends and found that the crystallinity of PLA was markedly increased in the presence of PBAT but that the crystallization mechanism remained unchanged. Li et al [18] observed three distinct morphologies for PBAT/PLA blends in their SEM images: spherical droplets (PBAT < 20 wt%), elongated fibrous structures (20 wt% < PBAT < 50 wt%) and a co-continuous structure (50 wt% < PBAT < 70 wt%).…”

Isothermal Cold‐Crystallization of PLA/PBAT Blends With and Without the Addition of Acetyl Tributyl Citrate

“…Even though the blends form two phases as reported by various authors, [ 1 , 2 ] partial miscibility has also been recently claimed since a DSC study reported a decrease of 4 ° C in the glass transition temperature ( T g ) of PLA when the blend contains 60% by weight PBAT. [ 3 ] …”

Melt Rheology of Poly(Lactic Acid)/Low Density Polyethylene Polymer Blends

“…PLA have been blended with rubbers [3], thermoplastic starch (TPS) [4][5][6][7][8][9], poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) [10], poly(butylene succinate adipate) (PBSA) [11], poly(butylene adipateco-terephthalate) (PBAT) [12][13][14][15], acrilontryl-butadienestyrene (ABS) [16], polypropylene (PP) [17][18][19], and polystyrene (PS) [20,21], to obtain materials with lower cost and improved properties.…”