Contact
    Start Publications Engineering Styrenic Blends with Poly(lactic acid)
    ←  Publication Finder
    Attension

    Engineering Styrenic Blends with Poly(lactic acid)

    Year: 2019

    Journal: Macromolecules, Volume 52, OCT 22, page 7547–7556

    Authors: Zuo, Xianghao; Xue, Yuan; Wang, Likun; Zhou, Yuchen; Yin, Yifan; Chuang, Ya-Chen; Chang, Chung-Chueh; Yin, Ruilin; Rafailovich, Miriam H.; Guo, Yichen

    Organizations: National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [NSF-1344267]

    Polymer pollution from nonbiodegradable polymer blends is a source of increasing environmental concern. The obvious solution, the replacement of petroleum-based polymers with biodegradable polymers from renewable sources, is difficult, since these polymers are highly immiscible. Here, we show how the addition of only a few percent of a tertiary phase can enable compatibilization and enhancement of the mechanical properties. The tertiary phase can be selected for any binary polymer system using the spreading coefficient (lambda(ij)) and the work of adhesion (W-a) as guides. We demonstrate this method using poly(lactic acid) as the continuous matrix phase, styrenic polymers, polystyrene (PS) or high-impact polystyrene (HIPS), as the discontinuous minority phase, and styrene acrylic copolymers [styrene methyl methacrylate (SMMA)] as the tertiary phase. We show that a distinct maximum in the impact toughness, nearly 58 and 56% for PS and HIPS blends, respectively, occurs when only 1.2 and 1.5% SMMA copolymers are added.
    View publication