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. 2022 Sep 24;14(19):3998.
doi: 10.3390/polym14193998.

Bio-Based Poly(lactic acid)/Poly(butylene sebacate) Blends with Improved Toughness

Adriana Nicoleta Frone  1 , Marius Stelian Popa  1 , Cătălina Diana Uşurelu  1 , Denis Mihaela Panaitescu  1 , Augusta Raluca Gabor  1 , Cristian Andi Nicolae  1 , Monica Florentina Raduly  1 , Anamaria Zaharia  1 , Elvira Alexandrescu  1
Affiliations

Bio-Based Poly(lactic acid)/Poly(butylene sebacate) Blends with Improved Toughness

Adriana Nicoleta Frone et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

A series of poly(butylene sebacate) (PBSe) aliphatic polyesters were successfully synthesized by the melt polycondensation of sebacic acid (Se) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO), two monomers manufactured on an industrial scale from biomass. The number average molecular weight (Mn) in the range from 6116 to 10,779 g/mol and the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the PBSe polyesters were tuned by adjusting the feed ratio between the two monomers. Polylactic acid (PLA)/PBSe blends with PBSe concentrations between 2.5 to 20 wt% were obtained by melt compounding. For the first time, PBSe's effect on the flexibility and toughness of PLA was studied. As shown by the torque and melt flow index (MFI) values, the addition of PBSe endowed PLA with both enhanced melt processability and flexibility. The tensile tests and thermogravimetric analysis showed that PLA/PBSe blends containing 20 wt% PBSe obtained using a BDO molar excess of 50% reached an increase in elongation at break from 2.9 to 108%, with a negligible decrease in Young's modulus from 2186 MPa to 1843 MPa, and a slight decrease in thermal performances. These results demonstrated the plasticizing efficiency of the synthesized bio-derived polyesters in overcoming PLA's brittleness. Moreover, the tunable properties of the resulting PBSe can be of great industrial interest in the context of circular bioeconomy.

Keywords: biopolymer blends; dynamic mechanical analysis; poly(butylene sebacate); thermal analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Reaction scheme for the synthesis of PBSe.
Figure 1
Figure 1
FTIR spectra of sebacic acid (Se) and PBSe polyesters (a) and FTIR spectra of PBSes in the range from 3600 to 2500 cm−1 (b) and 1800 to 1675 cm−1 (c).
Figure 2
Figure 2
TGA and DTG curves of PBSe with different Se:BDO molar ratios.
Figure 3
Figure 3
TGA/DTG curves for pristine PLA and PLA blends containing different amounts of PBSe1 (a), PBSe2 (b), PBSe3 (c), and PBSe4 (d).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Micrographs of neat PLA and PLA blends containing different amounts of PBSe1, PBSe2, PBSe3, and PBSe4 polyesters at 5000× magnification.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Torque (a) and melt flow index (b) values for pristine PLA and PLA/PBSe blends.
Figure 6
Figure 6
E′ curves of neat PLA and PLA blends containing different amounts of PBSe1 (a), PBSe2 (b), PBSe3 (c), and PBSe4 (d) polyesters.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Tan δ curves of neat PLA and PLA blends containing different amounts of PBSe1 (a), PBSe2 (b), PBSe3 (c), and PBSe4 (d) polyesters.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Mechanical properties determined from the tensile tests: σmax (a), YM (b), and εB (c).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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