Premium
The effect of poly(butylene succinate) content on the structure and thermal and mechanical properties of its blends with polylactide
Author(s) -
Ostrowska Justyna,
Sadurski Waldemar,
Paluch Magdalena,
Tyński Piotr,
Bogusz Jakub
Publication year - 2019
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.5814
Subject(s) - polybutylene succinate , materials science , ultimate tensile strength , charpy impact test , crystallization , polymer blend , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , amorphous solid , polyester , plastics extrusion , softening point , composite material , softening , vicat softening point , polymer , chemical engineering , copolymer , organic chemistry , chemistry , engineering
Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) and polylactide (PLA) were blended in a co‐rotating twin‐screw extruder with various contents of PBS from 0 to 100 wt%. The effect of PBS content on the thermal and mechanical properties of PBS/PLA blends was investigated by using DSC, softening point measurements, a Charpy impact test and tensile testing. The Fourier transform infrared spectra showed that the polymers are immiscible, but the addition of PBS could modify the PLA structure in PBS/PLA blends by changing the content of amorphous and crystalline phases. In addition, the cold crystallization temperature of PLA in blends decreases in comparison with pure PLA, which shows that PBS could have a plasticizing effect on PLA. This is confirmed by the results of DSC analysis. The mechanical properties of the blends depend on the percentage of PBS addition. Typically, the mechanical properties of PBS/PLA blends are intermediate between the properties of the polyesters from which they are obtained. However, in some cases unexpected changes in mechanical properties of the blends were observed. For example, the elongation at break for a PBS/PLA blend containing 10 wt% PLA is higher than for pure PBS. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry