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Improvement of Impact Toughness of Biodegradable Poly(butylene succinate) by Melt Blending with Sustainable Biobased Glycerol Elastomers

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Abstract

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) was melt blended with glycerol based polyesters (PGS) synthesized from pure and technical glycerol aiming to improve the impact strength of PBS. It was found that after addition of 30 wt% PGS to PBS its impact strength was significantly increased by 344% (from 31.9 to 110 J/m) and its elongation at break was maintained at 220%. Infrared spectra of the blends showed the presence of hydroxyl groups from the PGS phase suggesting that hydrogen bonding between the phases could be responsible for a good stress transfer and an efficient toughening in the PBS/PGS blends. Scanning electron microscopy imaging showed a good dispersion of PGS phase into PBS with a PGS particle size of 10 μm and less and no agglomeration. Addition of PGS to PBS was shown to be an effective strategy for improvement of PBS impact resistance without serious detrimental effects on its thermal and rheological properties.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), Canada/University of Guelph-Bioeconomy for Industrial Uses Research Program Theme (Project # 200001 and 200283); OMAFRA, Canada New Directions Project # 050155; the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation (MEDI), Canada, Ontario Research Fund, Research Excellence Round 4 Program (ORF-RE04) (Project # 050231 and 050289); the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada - Discovery Grants (Project # 401111) for the financial support to carry out this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Thornbrough Building, Guelph, N1G 2W1, ON, Canada

    Oscar Valerio, Manjusri Misra & Amar K. Mohanty

  2. Department of Plant Agriculture, Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre, University of Guelph, Crop Science Building, Guelph, N1G 2W1, ON, Canada

    Oscar Valerio, Manjusri Misra & Amar K. Mohanty

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  1. Oscar Valerio
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Correspondence to Amar K. Mohanty.

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Valerio, O., Misra, M. & Mohanty, A.K. Improvement of Impact Toughness of Biodegradable Poly(butylene succinate) by Melt Blending with Sustainable Biobased Glycerol Elastomers. J Polym Environ 26, 1078–1087 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-017-1015-4

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