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Effect of the composition and degree of crosslinking on the properties of poly( l ‐lactic acid)/crosslinked polyurethane blends
Author(s) -
Ma Meng,
Liu Kai,
Zheng Haiming,
Chen Si,
Wu Bozhen,
Shi Yanqin,
Wang Xu
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/pi.5626
Subject(s) - toughness , materials science , polyurethane , elongation , composite material , lactic acid , rheology , phase (matter) , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , ultimate tensile strength , chemistry , organic chemistry , genetics , biology , bacteria , engineering
Poly( l ‐lactic acid)/crosslinked polyurethane (PLLA/CPU) blends which were prepared via reactive blending of PLLA with poly( ϵ ‐caprolactone) (PCL), glycerol and 4,4′‐methylenediphenyl diisocyanate showed excellent toughness. The effects of the composition of the mixture and degree of crosslinking of CPU on the toughness of the PLLA/CPU blends (80/20 w/w) were studied in detail. Dynamic mechanical analysis and rheological measurements were used to characterize the structure of the in situ formed CPU in the PLLA matrix. A novel netlike phase structure was observed when the average molecular weight of PCL and degree of crosslinking were 1 kDa and 10%, respectively. The impact strength of the blend was enhanced from 2.2 kJ m −2 for pure PLLA to 62.4 kJ m −2 ; meanwhile, the elongation at break was increased to 489.8%. Therefore, the mechanical properties of PLLA/CPU blends can be easily tailored by tuning the composition of the mixture and the degree of crosslinking of CPU. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry