Abstract

Natphichon Budtri¹, Suwan Aekrum² and Weerasak Lertsiriyothin²

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/ojc/330609

Compounding of polylactides (PLA) and polybutylene succinate (PBS) was performed with the aim of modifying the processablility of PLA based materials. The influence of PBS on the thermal, mechanical, and rheological properties of PLA/PBS blends was analyzed and the results of the testing were used to indicate the compatibility of the blend.  A decrease of the melting temperature and an improvement of the mechanical properties of PLA were achieved by compounding it with PBS.  Increasing addition of PBS was found to decrease the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the PLA/PBS blends, but its % elongation at break was increased. However, a higher level of PBS addition initiated a phase separation problem. The interaction parameters were calculated from the Flory-Huggins equation for prediction of thermal property of the blends and the maximum blending ratio of 80:20 (PLA:PBS) was thermodynamically acceptable immiscible level. Relatively low levels of PBS addition improved the melt flow characteristics of the blend. The effect of the PBS addition level on the compatibility of the blend can definitely identify from the modified Cole-Cole plot of rheological properties.

Polylactides (PLA); Polybutylene succinate (PBS); Phase separation; Rheological; Biodegradable

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