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Crystallization, hydrolytic degradation, and mechanical properties of poly (trimethylene terephthalate)/poly(lactic acid) blends

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Abstract

Crystallization, melting, hydrolytic degradation, and mechanical properties of poly(trimentylene terephthalate)/poly(lactic acid) (PTT/PLA) blends have been investigated. The blends show a single and composition-dependent glass-transition temperature (T g) over the entire composition range, implying that these blends are fully miscible in the amorphous state. The observed T g is found to increase with increasing PLA content and fitted well with the Gordon–Taylor equation, with the fitting parameter k being 0.91. The cold-crystallization peak temperature increases, while the melt-crystallization peak decreases with increasing the PLA content. Both the pure PTT and PTT/PLA blends cannot accomplish the crystallization during the cooling procedure and the recrystallization occurs again on the second heating. Therefore, on the thermogram recorded, there is exothermal peak followed by endothermal peak with a shoulder. However, to pure PLA, no crystallization takes place during cooling from the melt, therefore, no melting endothermic peak is found on the second heating curve. WAXD analysis indicates PLA and PTT components do not co-crystallize and the crystalline phase of the blends is that of their enriched pure component. With increasing PLA content, the hydrolytic degradation of the blend films increases, while both the tensile strength and the elongation at break of the blend films decrease. That is to say, the hydrolytic degradation of the PTT/PLA blends increases with the introduction of PLA at the cost of the decrease of the flexibility of PTT.

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Acknowledgments

The financial support from the Scientific Research Foundation of Hubei Provincial Education Department (No: B200717003) and the Research Foundation of Wuhan University of Science and Engineering in China (No. 20073202) is greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Green Processing and Functional Textile of New Textile Materials, Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Engineering, Wuhan, Hubei, 430073, People’s Republic of China

    Hantao Zou, Changhai Yi, Luoxin Wang & Weilin Xu

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  1. Hantao Zou
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  2. Changhai Yi
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  3. Luoxin Wang
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  4. Weilin Xu
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Correspondence to Hantao Zou.

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Zou, H., Yi, C., Wang, L. et al. Crystallization, hydrolytic degradation, and mechanical properties of poly (trimethylene terephthalate)/poly(lactic acid) blends. Polym. Bull. 64, 471–481 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-009-0191-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-009-0191-3

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