Super-tough polylactic acid (PLA)/poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) materials prepared through reactive blending with epoxy-functionalized PMMA-GMA copolymer

Tao Zhao; Jinshuo Yu; Hongwei Pan; Yan Zhao; Qingxin Zhang; Xiaoyan Yu; Junjia Bian; Lijing Han; Huiliang Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126150

Super-tough polylactic acid (PLA)/poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) materials prepared through reactive blending with epoxy-functionalized PMMA-GMA copolymer

Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Aug 5:251:126150. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126150. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Tao Zhao¹, Jinshuo Yu², Hongwei Pan³, Yan Zhao⁴, Qingxin Zhang⁵, Xiaoyan Yu⁵, Junjia Bian⁶, Lijing Han⁶, Huiliang Zhang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Changchun 130022, China; Hebei Key Laboratory of Functional Polymers, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China.
² Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Changchun 130022, China; Engineering Research Center of Synthetic Resin and Special Fiber, Ministry of Education, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun 130012, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Changchun 130022, China. Electronic address: hwpan@ciac.ac.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Changchun 130022, China. Electronic address: zhaoyan@ciac.ac.cn.
⁵ Hebei Key Laboratory of Functional Polymers, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Changchun 130022, China.

PMID: 37544555
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126150

Abstract

High-performance biosourced polylactic acid (PLA)/poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) blends with small amounts of compatibilizer, epoxy-functionalized methyl methacrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate copolymer (PMMA-GMA), were fabricated by melt compounding. The properties of the modified PLA/PMMA-GMA, PBS/PMMA-GMA, and PLS(PLA/PBS)/PMMA-GMA blends were investigated systematically. DSC combined with X-ray diffraction revealed a low-order semi-crystalline structure for all samples. SEM and DMA showed that the compatibility between PLA and PBS was improved after addition of PMMA-GMA. Rheological behavior of blends showed that the addition of PMMA-GMA resulted in a significant improvement in the viscoelasticity. FT-IR spectra confirmed that the interfacial compatibilization between PLA and PBS phases was improved due to the reaction of epoxy groups with terminal groups of PLA and PBS. Finally, the toughness and notched impact strength of the PLA materials were increased significantly. The elongation at break and notched impact strength of PLS/PMMA-GMA was about 55.7 and 6.2 times than neat PLA after incorporation of 7 wt% PMMA-GMA, respectively.

Keywords: Methyl methacrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate copolymer; Poly(butylene succinate); Poly(lactic acid).