Mechanical, thermal properties and shape memory behaviors of PLA/PCL/PLA‐g‐GMA blends

• Published in: Polymer engineering and science Vol. 63; no. 7; pp. 2084 - 2092
• Main Authors: Ye, Gaoyuan, Gu, Tongfei, Chen, Boyuan, Bi, Hongjie, Hu, Yingcheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2023; Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Biopolymers; Compatibility; Compatibilizers; Elongation; Lactic acid; Mechanical properties; Melt temperature; Polycaprolactone; Polylactic acid; Polymer blends; Polymeric composites; Shape memory; shape memory performance; Tensile tests; Thermal properties; Thermal stability; Thermodynamic properties; Toughness; China
• ISSN: 0032-3888; 1548-2634
• DOI: 10.1002/pen.26347

To improve the toughness of polylactic acid (PLA), in this research, a tough polymer polycaprolactone (PCL) was combined with PLA to prepare blends, and a compatibilizer of glycidyl methacrylate grafted PLA (PLA‐g‐GMA) was produced to enhance the compatibility of PLA/PCL blend. Compared with PLA/PCL blend, the compatibilized blend exhibited a lower melting temperature and greater thermal stability. The tensile test indicates that the addition of compatibilizer greatly improved the toughness of the PLA/PCL blend. Particularly, the elongation at break of PLA/PCL blend with 6 wt% PLA‐g‐GMA increased to 370% and reached about 66 times of neat PLA. In addition, compatibilized blends have good shape memory performance. The research provides a simple and feasible method to overcome the brittleness of PLA, supplying a new strategy to modify PLA. Tensile properties and toughening mechanism.