Effects of thermal treatment and nucleating agents on crystallinity, toughness, and stiffness of PLA/PCL blends
The effects of the thermal treatment and nucleating agents on the morphology, crystallinity, and mechanical propertiesp of poly(lactic acid)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PLA/PCL) blends were studied in order to obtain PLA/PCL blends with both high stiffness and toughness. The standard thermal treatment of...
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| Language: | English |
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Budapest University of Technology and Economics
2022-03-01
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| Series: | eXPRESS Polymer Letters |
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| Online Access: | http://www.expresspolymlett.com/letolt.php?file=EPL-0011589&mi=cd |
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| author | Aleksandra Ujcic Ivan Fortelny Sabina Krejcikova Ewa Pavlova Jiri Hodan Miroslav Slouf |
| author_facet | Aleksandra Ujcic Ivan Fortelny Sabina Krejcikova Ewa Pavlova Jiri Hodan Miroslav Slouf |
| author_sort | Aleksandra Ujcic |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The effects of the thermal treatment and nucleating agents on the morphology, crystallinity, and mechanical propertiesp of poly(lactic acid)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PLA/PCL) blends were studied in order to obtain PLA/PCL blends with both high stiffness and toughness. The standard thermal treatment of the melt-mixed blends (a compression molding without annealing) resulted in the systems with optimized morphology (at PLA/PCL ratio 80/20) and very high toughness (ca 16×higher with respect to neat PLA), but the stiffness at elevated temperatures (above Tg of PLA at 65 °C) was low due to the low crystallinity of the PLA matrix (<10%). The compression molding with annealing at 110 °C could increase the crystallinity of PLA (up to ~40%), but the toughness decreased steeply due to morphological changes (a coalescence of PCL particles associated with the structure coarsening). The lowering of the annealing temperature (to 80 °C) and addition of the PLA nucleating agent (1 wt% of talc) led to the blends showing both high toughness (9× with respect to neat PLA) and crystallinity (~35%). Dynamic mechanical analysis evidenced that the higher PLA crystallinity improved the storage modulus at temperatures >60 °C by ca two orders of magnitude. The achieved combination of the PLA/PCL toughness and stiffness was one of the highest, according to the available literature. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c1464aad71eb4c9091d0f6bd7aeb4611 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1788-618X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Budapest University of Technology and Economics |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eXPRESS Polymer Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-c1464aad71eb4c9091d0f6bd7aeb46112025-08-20T03:38:55ZengBudapest University of Technology and EconomicseXPRESS Polymer Letters1788-618X2022-03-0116322123310.3144/expresspolymlett.2022.18Effects of thermal treatment and nucleating agents on crystallinity, toughness, and stiffness of PLA/PCL blendsAleksandra UjcicIvan FortelnySabina KrejcikovaEwa PavlovaJiri HodanMiroslav SloufThe effects of the thermal treatment and nucleating agents on the morphology, crystallinity, and mechanical propertiesp of poly(lactic acid)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PLA/PCL) blends were studied in order to obtain PLA/PCL blends with both high stiffness and toughness. The standard thermal treatment of the melt-mixed blends (a compression molding without annealing) resulted in the systems with optimized morphology (at PLA/PCL ratio 80/20) and very high toughness (ca 16×higher with respect to neat PLA), but the stiffness at elevated temperatures (above Tg of PLA at 65 °C) was low due to the low crystallinity of the PLA matrix (<10%). The compression molding with annealing at 110 °C could increase the crystallinity of PLA (up to ~40%), but the toughness decreased steeply due to morphological changes (a coalescence of PCL particles associated with the structure coarsening). The lowering of the annealing temperature (to 80 °C) and addition of the PLA nucleating agent (1 wt% of talc) led to the blends showing both high toughness (9× with respect to neat PLA) and crystallinity (~35%). Dynamic mechanical analysis evidenced that the higher PLA crystallinity improved the storage modulus at temperatures >60 °C by ca two orders of magnitude. The achieved combination of the PLA/PCL toughness and stiffness was one of the highest, according to the available literature.http://www.expresspolymlett.com/letolt.php?file=EPL-0011589&mi=cdpolymer blends and alloyspoly(lactic acid)polycaprolactonecrystallinitymechanical properties |
| spellingShingle | Aleksandra Ujcic Ivan Fortelny Sabina Krejcikova Ewa Pavlova Jiri Hodan Miroslav Slouf Effects of thermal treatment and nucleating agents on crystallinity, toughness, and stiffness of PLA/PCL blends eXPRESS Polymer Letters polymer blends and alloys poly(lactic acid) polycaprolactone crystallinity mechanical properties |
| title | Effects of thermal treatment and nucleating agents on crystallinity, toughness, and stiffness of PLA/PCL blends |
| title_full | Effects of thermal treatment and nucleating agents on crystallinity, toughness, and stiffness of PLA/PCL blends |
| title_fullStr | Effects of thermal treatment and nucleating agents on crystallinity, toughness, and stiffness of PLA/PCL blends |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of thermal treatment and nucleating agents on crystallinity, toughness, and stiffness of PLA/PCL blends |
| title_short | Effects of thermal treatment and nucleating agents on crystallinity, toughness, and stiffness of PLA/PCL blends |
| title_sort | effects of thermal treatment and nucleating agents on crystallinity toughness and stiffness of pla pcl blends |
| topic | polymer blends and alloys poly(lactic acid) polycaprolactone crystallinity mechanical properties |
| url | http://www.expresspolymlett.com/letolt.php?file=EPL-0011589&mi=cd |
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