Biopolymer toughening with chain extenders

Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most popular biodegradable polymers today. However, it has its drawbacks, such as poor melt strength and narrow processing window. In this study, PLA 2003D was compounded with chain extenders (CE) at weight percentages of 0.2%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1.0%, using two co-r...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Yeow, Ethan Chuen Herh
Other Authors: Luciana Lisa Lao
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/139302
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
id sg-ntu-dr.10356-139302
record_format dspace
spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1393022023-03-04T15:48:27Z Biopolymer toughening with chain extenders Yeow, Ethan Chuen Herh Luciana Lisa Lao School of Materials Science and Engineering Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology Zhang Xiwen, Wendy lllao@ntu.edu.sg; zhangxw@simtech.a-star.edu.sg Engineering::Materials::Composite materials Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most popular biodegradable polymers today. However, it has its drawbacks, such as poor melt strength and narrow processing window. In this study, PLA 2003D was compounded with chain extenders (CE) at weight percentages of 0.2%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1.0%, using two co-rotating screws. Two types of multifunctional epoxy extenders were used, Joncryl® ADR-4300 and Joncryl® ADR-4370F. The thermal, mechanical, chemical and rheological properties of the PLA blends were investigated. The DSC results showed that there was a lower crystallinity with increasing concentrations of CE, suggesting that the blends increased in ductility. The results showed that the mechanical (i.e. impact resistance, ductility) and rheological (i.e. melt strength) properties improved with increasing concentrations of CE. The impact resistance and ductility of the blends increased with increasing concentrations of CE. When compared to pure PLA, the PLA blends exhibit enhanced melt strength and strain-hardening behaviour. These results are supported by results of the FTIR and GPC, which indicated that the PLA blends had an increase in molecular weight. The change in molecular weight and molecular architecture due to the chain extender plays an important role in the enhancement of the properties. Lastly, a blown film application was used to demonstrate the improvements in melt strength and processing window. This experiment allows for future research to explore other possible applications of PLA blends or other polymer blends. Bachelor of Engineering (Materials Engineering) 2020-05-18T12:44:34Z 2020-05-18T12:44:34Z 2020 Final Year Project (FYP) https://hdl.handle.net/10356/139302 en MSE/19/042 application/pdf Nanyang Technological University
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Engineering::Materials::Composite materials
spellingShingle Engineering::Materials::Composite materials
Yeow, Ethan Chuen Herh
Biopolymer toughening with chain extenders
description Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most popular biodegradable polymers today. However, it has its drawbacks, such as poor melt strength and narrow processing window. In this study, PLA 2003D was compounded with chain extenders (CE) at weight percentages of 0.2%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1.0%, using two co-rotating screws. Two types of multifunctional epoxy extenders were used, Joncryl® ADR-4300 and Joncryl® ADR-4370F. The thermal, mechanical, chemical and rheological properties of the PLA blends were investigated. The DSC results showed that there was a lower crystallinity with increasing concentrations of CE, suggesting that the blends increased in ductility. The results showed that the mechanical (i.e. impact resistance, ductility) and rheological (i.e. melt strength) properties improved with increasing concentrations of CE. The impact resistance and ductility of the blends increased with increasing concentrations of CE. When compared to pure PLA, the PLA blends exhibit enhanced melt strength and strain-hardening behaviour. These results are supported by results of the FTIR and GPC, which indicated that the PLA blends had an increase in molecular weight. The change in molecular weight and molecular architecture due to the chain extender plays an important role in the enhancement of the properties. Lastly, a blown film application was used to demonstrate the improvements in melt strength and processing window. This experiment allows for future research to explore other possible applications of PLA blends or other polymer blends.
author2 Luciana Lisa Lao
author_facet Luciana Lisa Lao
Yeow, Ethan Chuen Herh
format Final Year Project
author Yeow, Ethan Chuen Herh
author_sort Yeow, Ethan Chuen Herh
title Biopolymer toughening with chain extenders
title_short Biopolymer toughening with chain extenders
title_full Biopolymer toughening with chain extenders
title_fullStr Biopolymer toughening with chain extenders
title_full_unstemmed Biopolymer toughening with chain extenders
title_sort biopolymer toughening with chain extenders
publisher Nanyang Technological University
publishDate 2020
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/139302
_version_ 1759857037029670912