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Toughening of poly(lactide) using polyethylene glycol methyl ether acrylate: Reactive versus physical blending
Author(s) -
Kfoury Georgio,
Raquez JeanMarie,
Hassouna Fatima,
Leclère Philippe,
Toniazzo Valérie,
Ruch David,
Dubois Philippe
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.24085
Subject(s) - materials science , reactive extrusion , ultimate tensile strength , polymer chemistry , plasticizer , acrylate , toughness , lactide , ethylene glycol , extrusion , elongation , composite material , polymerization , chemical engineering , polymer , copolymer , engineering
To design high‐performance poly(lactide)‐based materials (PLA‐based) with improved toughness, two approaches based on the reactive extrusion (REx) process are investigated and compared in the present study. The first approach relies upon a two‐step procedure using a REx‐polymerized poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate, i.e., poly(AcrylPEG), as a highly‐branched and compatible impact modifier for PLA. The free‐radical polymerization proves to be very efficient with a peroxide initiator concentration of 1 wt%. The as‐produced poly(AcrylPEG) is then melt‐blended with PLA by extrusion. The resulting materials exhibit largely increase impact resistance (ca. 35 kJ/m 2 ) in presence of 20 wt% poly(AcrylPEG) in comparison with neat PLA (2.7 kJ/m 2 ), while moderate ductility (tensile elongation at break <40%) and limited plasticization effect are observed. The second “one‐step” approach consists in in situ grafting of AcrylPEG onto PLA backbone via a one‐stage REx. The resulting materials exhibit substantially improved impact resistance (ca. 102 kJ/m 2 ) for AcrylPEG loading of 20 wt%, high ductility (tensile elongation at break of ca. 150%) and efficient plasticization. A detailed characterization of the morphology of the materials has been performed using PF‐QNM‐AFM to better elucidate the structure‐property relationships. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:1408–1419, 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers