Improvement of mechanical properties of poly(lactic acid) by elastomer | Penambahbaikkan sifat mekanikal poli(asid laktik) oleh elastomer

• Main Authors: Sennan,P., Pumchusak,J.
• Format: Article
• Published: Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2015
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry
• Online Access: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=84916205106&origin=inward; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/handle/6653943832/38827
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

© 2014, Malaysian Society of Analytical Sciences. All rights reserved. Poly(lactic acid), PLA is a biodegradable thermoplastic that has a limited application due to its brittleness. This study has tried to overcome this weakness by blending polybutadiene (BR) into PLA. In the beginning period of the investigation, the preparation of PLA film with the thickness of less than 0.2 mm was prepared using the solvent casting method. The BR contents of 3, 5, 10 and 20 wt% were investigated. Vibracell sonicator was applied to disperse and lessen the rubber particle size in the PLA matrix. It was found that the elongation at break of the samples improved from 11 % for neat PLA to 39 % by blending with 10 wt%BR. However, tensile strength decreased as the BR contents was increased. SEM imaging revealed that the rubber has played an important role in the increase of sample toughness.