Tailoring Impact Toughness of Poly(l-lactide)/Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PLLA/PCL) Blends by Controlling Crystallization of PLLA Matrix
Abstract
Melt blending poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) with various biodegradable polymers has been thought to be the most economic and effective route to toughen PLLA without compromising its biodegradability. Unfortunately, only very limited improvement in notched impact toughness can be achieved, although most of these blends show significant enhancement in tensile toughness. In this work, biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) was used as an impact modifier to toughen PLLA and a nucleating agent was utilized to tailor the crystallization of PLLA matrix. Depending on the nucleating agent concentrations in the matrix and mold temperatures in injection molding, PLLA/PCL blends with a wide range of matrix crystallinity (10-50%) were prepared by practical injection molding. The results show that there is a linear relationship between PLLA matrix crystallinity and impact toughness. With the increase in PLLA crystalline content, toughening becomes much easier to achieve. PLLA crystals are believed to provide a path for the propagation of shear yielding needed for effective impact energy absorption, and then, excellent toughening effect can be obtained when these crystals percolate through the whole matrix. This investigation provides not only a new route to prepare sustainable PLLA products with good impact toughness but also a fresh insight into the importance of matrix crystallization in the toughening of semicrystalline polymers with a flexible polymer.
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The rate of growth of impact strength with PLA crystallinity increased with the increasing content of PCL in the blends.
“The rate of this growth increased with the increasing content of PCL in the blends.”
From Phase Structure, Compatibility, and Toughness of PLA/PCL Blends: A Review (2019) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2012
The PLA/PCL (80/20) blend with PLA crystallinity about 50% showed impact strength more than 13 times higher than neat PLA.
“The PLA/PCL (80/20) blend with the PLA crystallinity about 50% showed the impact strength more than 13 times higher in comparison with neat PLA.”
From Phase Structure, Compatibility, and Toughness of PLA/PCL Blends: A Review (2019) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2012
The notched Izod impact strength of neat PLA was almost independent of its crystallinity.
“It was found that the notched Izod impact strength of neat PLA was almost independent of its crystallinity.”
From Phase Structure, Compatibility, and Toughness of PLA/PCL Blends: A Review (2019) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2012
The crystallinity of PLA in its blends processed by common procedures tends to be very low, typically lower than 10%.
“Consequently, the crystallinity of PLA in its blends processed by common procedures tends to be very low, typically lower than 10% (Bai et al., 2012(Bai et al., , 2013;;Ostafinska et al., 2015Ostafinska et al., , 2017)).”
From Phase Structure, Compatibility, and Toughness of PLA/PCL Blends: A Review (2019) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2012
The impact strength of PLA/PCL blends grew with the crystallinity of PLA.
“On the other hand, the impact strength of PLA/PCL blends grew with the crystallinity of PLA.”
From Phase Structure, Compatibility, and Toughness of PLA/PCL Blends: A Review (2019) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2012
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- Authors
- Bai, H., Xiu, H., Gao, J., Deng, H., Zhang, Q., Yang, M., & Fu, Q.
- Affiliations
- Sichuan University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Fu, Qiang
- Venue
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2012-01-20
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 897-905
- ISSN
- 1944-8244 (ISSN-L)
- 1944-8252
- OpenAlex
- W2332818851
- Cited by
- 260
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 11
- FWCI
- 5.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer crystallization and properties
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer Foaming and Composites
- Keywords
- poly(L-lactic acid), polycaprolactone, impact toughness, toughening, nucleating agents, polymer crystallization, crystallinity, injection molding, shear yielding, impact energy absorption, biodegradable polymers, semicrystalline polymers
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