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Strategy for the Preparation of PBAT/Starch Blended Foam with High Resilience and Shrinkage Resistance

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Abstract

Poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), a biodegradable polyester, has gained increasing research interest. Foam polymers based on PBAT have demonstrated high potential for various applications. Here, we propose a novel method for blending foam made of starch and PBAT. Melt blending was used to create PBAT/starch blends, and batch supercritical CO2 autoclave foaming was used to create polymer foams. We looked into the mechanical characteristics, crystallization, and dispersion morphology of PBAT/starch mixes. The structure, together with the anti-shrinkage and compressive strengths of PBAT/starch foams were investigated. The findings demonstrate that starch can be more effectively incorporated into the PBAT matrix with the aid of polyol (glycerol) and that the addition of starch with specific quantities can create a clear bimodal-like cell structure, thus increasing the matrix's rigidity and lessen the shrinkage issue with PBAT foam, resulting in foam with good compression resilience. The largest expansion ratio, 19, the least shrinking, and outstanding compression resilience were found in the 70/30 mixture of PBAT and starch. It provides a broadly applicable method for possible large-scale manufacture of biodegradable polyester foams with anti-shrinkage and high compression resilience.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to EditSprings (https://www.editsprings.cn ) for the expert linguistic services provided.

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  1. Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, 100048, People’s Republic of China

    Qifan Yang, Shuhong Li & Xiangdong Wang

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  1. Qifan Yang
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QY is responsible for the operation of experiment, experimental data processing and the writing of the article. XW directed the whole experiment. SL revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shuhong Li or Xiangdong Wang.

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Yang, Q., Li, S. & Wang, X. Strategy for the Preparation of PBAT/Starch Blended Foam with High Resilience and Shrinkage Resistance. J Polym Environ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-023-03182-5

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