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Experimental and theoretical mechanical behavior of compatibilized polylactic acid/polyolefin elastomer blends for potential packaging applications

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Abstract

The global accumulation and disposal of plastics has become a nightmare for environmentalists; therefore, the use of natural or synthetic biodegradable plastics  is necessary. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a green polymer with appropriate properties like biocompatibility and biodegradability, but similar to almost all green polymers, it suffers from poor mechanical properties, necessitating the use of a secondary polymer to make it suitable for packaging applications. Diverse polymers have been employed to improve the performance of PLA, but they are mostly expensive. Polyolefin elastomers (POE) are rubbery polymers having polyolefin backbone with reasonable price and properties for blending with PLA. In this work, PLA/POE blends were prepared by melt extrusion and several formulations were made. Two grades of POE together with two kinds of compatibilizers (ethylene–methyl acrylate-glycidyl methacrylate terpolymer and ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer) were considered to develop mechanically reinforced 80/20/4 PLA/POE/compatibilizer blends. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated efficient compatibilization. The mechanical behavior of the prepared blends was investigated to find the blends showing the highest elasticity. Furthermore, constitutive models were used to predict mechanical properties, and the Bergström–Boyce model best fitted the data. The tensile and impact strength showed about 30% decrease and 900% increase, respectively. A good stiffness/toughness balance was observed for the sample compatibilized with the terpolymer. The novelty of this work is to combine experimental and theoretical analyses to predict the mechanical properties of PLA/POE systems. The employed theoretical framework was able to determine the model parameters and predict the yielding and strain hardening phenomena that are not typically applied to compatibilized polymer blends.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

    Azadeh Khosravi & Abdolhossein Fereidoon

  2. Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (NPC-Rt), National Petrochemical Company (NPC), P.O. Box 14358-84711, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Mehdi Khorasani

  3. Department of Polymer Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology, G. Narutowicza 11, /12, 80-233, Gdańsk, Poland

    Mohammad Reza Saeb

Authors
  1. Azadeh Khosravi
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  2. Abdolhossein Fereidoon
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  3. Mohammad Mehdi Khorasani
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  4. Mohammad Reza Saeb
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Correspondence to Abdolhossein Fereidoon or Mohammad Reza Saeb.

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Khosravi, A., Fereidoon, A., Khorasani, M.M. et al. Experimental and theoretical mechanical behavior of compatibilized polylactic acid/polyolefin elastomer blends for potential packaging applications. Iran Polym J 31, 651–663 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-022-01028-w

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