Poly(l-Lactic Acid)/Poly(Butylene Succinate) biobased biodegradable blends
In: Polymer Reviews. TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC: Philadelphia. ISSN 1558-3724; e-ISSN 1558-3716, more
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| Abstract |
Poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) are biodegradable, compostable, and biocompatible polymers that can beproduced from annually renewable resources. These properties madethem popular in environmentally friendly applications, and theirindustrial usage and production have grown in the latest years.However, both polymers have a few drawbacks that have limited sofar their use: PLLA is hard and brittle with a slow crystallization rate, whereas PBS is ductile, has fast crystallization kinetics, but lowmodulus. The complementarity of their properties makes their blendinga unique opportunity to exploit the favorable properties of thetwo polymers, which raised considerable research efforts in recentyears on blends made of PLLA and PBS. Unfortunately, literaturedata on PLLA/PBS blends often report contradictory results on miscibility of the two polymers, as well as on the influence of composition on material properties: this creates confusion, complicatingtheir exploitation. As an effort to elucidate miscibility and propertiesof the blends as function of composition, a critical analysis of theavailable research results on blends made of PLLA and PBS is providedin this review. The aim is to highlight the potentiality of PLLA/PBS blends, whose properties can be tailored by fine-tuning thecomposition. |
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