Ductility improvements of PLA-based binary and ternary blends with controlled morphology using PBAT, PBSA, and nanoclay

Nofar, Mohammadreza; Salehiyan, Reza; Ciftci, Umit; Jalali, Amirjalal; Durmuş, Ali

Abstract

In this study, binary and ternary immiscible blends of polylactide (PLA) with poly[(butylene adipate)-co-terephthalate] (PBAT) and poly[(butylene succinate)-co-adipate] (PBSA) were prepared through an injection-molding (IM) process. Blend nanocomposites of PLA/PBAT/nanoclay were also prepared using a twin-screw extruder (TSE) followed by IM. An amorphous PLA (A-PLA), a semicrystalline PLA (SC-PLA), and their mixture were used as the matrix to investigate the matrix crystallization effect on blend morphology evolution and ductility enhancements. The results showed that in PLA/PBAT blends with 75/25 wt ratio, the increase in PLA crystallization capability caused finer and more homogenous blend morphology and hence the ductility increased significantly from around 5% to ~205%. In contrast, the ductility enhancements of co-continuous PLA/PBAT blends with 50/50 wt ratio became more profound when the PLA matrix was more amorphous. In PLA/PBSA blends, however, no ductility improvement was observed as the vitrification of PLA could hinder the PBSA crystallization which resulted in a non-uniform blend structure. In ternary blends, a matrix-core shell morphology was obtained and led to the improvements of the flexural strength and modulus. The use of nanoclay also significantly promoted the ductility of PLA/PBAT blends with 75/25 wt ratio, specifically in blends with A-PLA.

Citation

Nofar, M., Salehiyan, R., Ciftci, U., Jalali, A., & Durmuş, A. (2020). Ductility improvements of PLA-based binary and ternary blends with controlled morphology using PBAT, PBSA, and nanoclay. Composites Part B: Engineering, 182, Article 107661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.107661

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 28, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Nov 30, 2019
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Deposit Date: Jan 30, 2023
• Journal: Composites Part B: Engineering
• Print ISSN: 1359-8368
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 182
• Article Number: 107661
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.107661
• Keywords: PLA; PBAT; PBSA; Nanoclay; Blend; Nanocomposite; Crystallization; Mechanical properties