Renewable and Supertoughened Polylactide-Based Composites: Morphology, Interfacial Compatibilization, and Toughening Mechanism
文摘
Composites of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and a series of renewable and biobased copolyesters (PLBSIs) were manufactured by melt blending to toughen PLA. Benefiting from reasonable macromolecular design, the introduction of lactic acid in PLBSIs not only increases the compatibility with PLA but also helps PLBSIs turn from crystalline plastic to amorphous elastomer. The increasing compatibility was proved by the decreasing particle size of PLBSIs in PLA, and the better toughening effect of elastomer than that of plastic was characterized by the thermal tensile test. Thus, the supertoughened PLA composites were obtained and exhibited maximum elongation at break of 324% and impact strength of 35.7 kJ/m2, 50 and 15 times higher than neat PLA, respectively. Excellent performance in 3D-printed tensile tests implies the toughened PLA was ideal 3D-printing ink. The supertoughened PLA will eliminate the brittleness of PLA for wide application and possess great potential for industrial and engineering fields.