Thermal, Morphological and Biodegradable Properties of PVAc/PLA Bioblends

Abstract

Polymer blending is one of most attractive and convenient method to develop new polymeric material with effective desired properties at low cost [1-4]. The property of blends depends on proper miscibility of the polymers. The miscibility of polymers depends on the specific interaction between the polymer constituent [5]. The completely miscible polymers have better properties as compared their constituent polymers. Polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) is an atactic, branched thermoplastic, formed by polymerization of vinyl acetate monomers. It is semicrystalline, partially hydrophilic copolymer of vinyl alcohol and vinyl acetate. The glass transition temperature (T g) of PVAc is very low at room temperature and shows good resistance to oxidation and UV-radiation. It is sticky above T g and brittle below it. It has good adhesion, high tensile straight and hardness and brittleness varies with the molecular weight [6]. It is used mainly in paint industry [7,8] and also used in medical field for drug delivery [9]. In this work we prepared the PVAc/ PLA blends by solution casting methods. The thermal stability of blends film was characterized by TGA, morphology of blends film was analyzed by SEM and biodegradability observed by soil burial methods. EXPERIMENTAL Polylactic acid (PLA) was prepared in lab. p-Xylene, tetrahydofurane (THF), polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) i.e., methanol