Journal
POLYMER TESTING
Volume 49, Issue -, Pages 22-28Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.polymertesting.2015.11.004
Keywords
Blends; Poly lactic acid (PLA); Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB); Processing; Bio-based polymers
Funding
- National Research Council of Argentina
- CONICET [PIP 014, PIP 0527]
- ANCyPT [PICT 1983]
- National University of Mar del Plata
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Biodegradable polymeric blends based on poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and polylactic acid (PLA) were prepared by melt mixing. Trybutyrin, a bio-based plasticizer, was added at a fixed proportion in all blends. Crystal structure, percent crystallinity, miscibility, mechanical properties and permeation of fully biodegradable PHB/PLA blends were investigated in detail by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), tensile tests and water vapor permeation tests. From the thermal test, two glass transition temperatures were found for the whole range of compositions, which reveals the immiscibility between PHB and PLA. Moreover, the biphasic melt further confirms this fact. Tensile tests showed an increase in the elongation at break with the PLA content. SEM images reveal debonding between the interfacial surfaces, which justifies the increase in the elongation at break. Water vapor permeation values for blends were slightly higher than that of the plasticized pristine polymer. The plasticized polymer blends showed valuable properties to extend the applications of PHB and PLA. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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