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Improvement of the deformative characteristics of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate by plasticization

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Abstract

Plasticized systems of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) are studied, where low-molecular compounds traditionally used for this purpose for various systems, i.e., dioctyl sebacate, dibutyl sebacate, polyethylene glycol, Laprol 503, and Laprol 5003, are used as plasticizers. All of them are nontoxic and biodegradable compounds with a similar molecular weight and comparable polarity of molecules. The main purpose of this study is to improve the deformability of PHB taking into account the structural changes in plasticized PHBs. The plasticizers chosen are completely compatible with the polymer and form a monophase system up to a plasticizer content of 15–20%. An increase in the plasticizer content allows us to increase efficiently the deformability of the polymer (the relative breaking elongation of PHB at room temperature grows up to 250–300%). At the same time, the system becomes considerably weaker and therefore there is no point in increasing the concentration of plasticizers by more than 20 wt.%. According to the data obtained from DSC measurements, the ratio between the amorphous and crystalline regions of PHB in the presence of plasticizers mentioned remains practically constant. The changes in the elastic properties of PHB/low-molecular plasticizer systems are mainly due to efficient weakening of intermolecular interactions in the amorphous regions of the polymer. A slight decrease in the crystalline order of PHB is of secondary importance.

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Authors
  1. I. Bibers
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  2. V. Tupureina
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  3. A. Dzene
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  4. M. Kalnins
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Additional information

Institute of Polymer Materials, Riga Technical University, Riga, LV-1048, Latvia. Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 527–538, July–August, 1999.

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Bibers, I., Tupureina, V., Dzene, A. et al. Improvement of the deformative characteristics of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate by plasticization. Mech Compos Mater 35, 357–364 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02259726

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02259726

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