The effect of poly(butylene succinate) content on the structure and thermal and mechanical properties of its blends with polylactide

Abstract

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) and polylactide (PLA) were blended in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder with various contents of PBS from 0 to 100 wt%. The effect of PBS content on the thermal and mechanical properties of PBS/PLA blends was investigated by using DSC, softening point measurements, a Charpy impact test and tensile testing. The Fourier transform infrared spectra showed that the polymers are immiscible, but the addition of PBS could modify the PLA structure in PBS/PLA blends by changing the content of amorphous and crystalline phases. In addition, the cold crystallization temperature of PLA in blends decreases in comparison with pure PLA, which shows that PBS could have a plasticizing effect on PLA. This is confirmed by the results of DSC analysis. The mechanical properties of the blends depend on the percentage of PBS addition. Typically, the mechanical properties of PBS/PLA blends are intermediate between the properties of the polyesters from which they are obtained. However, in some cases unexpected changes in mechanical properties of the blends were observed. For example, the elongation at break for a PBS/PLA blend containing 10 wt% PLA is higher than for pure PBS.

A review on degradation mechanisms of polylactic acid: Hydrolytic, photodegradative, microbial, and enzymatic degradation

“…Flexibility and resilience Cannot crystallize to any significant degree, wide melting point, low elastic modulus and stiffness [46] Polybutylene succinate (PBS) direct esterification of succinic acid with 1,4-butanediol Compostable, high flexibility and excellent thermal stability Stiffness and melt viscosity for processing are often insufficient for various end-use applications [47,48] photodegradative, microbial and enzymatic. The objective of this review is to identify the research areas of PLA degradation mechanisms with a focus on hydrolytic, photodegradative, microbial and enzymatic degradation.…”

Tensile and morphological properties of nanocrystalline cellulose and nanofibrillated cellulose reinforcedPLAbionanocomposites: A review

“…[ 195,196 ] Tensile properties represent physical performance such as tensile strength, elongation at break and tensile modulus of the materials which will influence the physical capability under critical and extreme circumstances. [ 6,197,198 ] For the past few years, numerous studies have been performed on nanocellulose reinforced PLA bionanocomposites, and tensile testing was used to characterize their performance. [ 29,42,102,108,129,146,185,187,192,199,200 ]…”

Sustainable Micro and Nano Additives for Controlling the Migration of a Biobased Plasticizer from PLA-Based Flexible Films

“…However, the blending technique is the common method adopted to overcome the PLA brittleness making it useful in those applications (like film production) where high flexibility and toughness are requested. In literature different successful studies can be found where PLA was blended, in different quantities, with other biodegradable polymers such as: polycaprolactone [ 11 ], poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH) [ 12 , 13 ], polybutylene(succinate) (PBS) [ 14 , 15 , 16 ], poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) [ 17 , 18 , 19 ], and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) [ 20 , 21 , 22 ].…”