Abstract
Blends based on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and poly(lactic) acid (PLA) with different ratios of both polymers were produced: a blend with equal amounts of HDPE and PLA, hence 50 wt.% each, proved to be a useful compromise, allowing a high amount of bioderived charge without this being too detrimental for mechanical properties and considering its possibility to biodegradation behaviour in outdoor application. In this way, an optimal blend suitable for producing a composite with cellulosic fillers is proposed. In the selected polymer blend, wood flour (WF) was added as a natural filler in the proportion of 20, 30, and 40 wt.%, considering as 100 the weight of the polymer blend matrix. There are two compatibilizers to modify both HDPE-PLA blend and wood-flour/polymer interfaces, i.e., polyethylene-grafted maleic anhydride and a random copolymer of ethylene and glycidyl methacrylate. The most suitable percentage of compatibilizer for HDPE-PLA blends appears to be 3 wt.%, which was selected also for use with wood flour. In order to evaluate properties of blends and composites tensile tests, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analyses, and infrared spectroscopy have been performed. Wood flour seems to affect heavy blend behaviour in process production of material suggesting that future studies are needed to reduce defectiveness.
Highlights
The importance achieved by thermoplastic polymers during the last decades is undoubted
Blends based on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and poly(lactic) acid (PLA) with different ratios of both polymers were produced: a blend with equal amounts of HDPE and PLA, 50 wt.% each, proved to be a useful compromise, allowing a high amount of bioderived charge without this being too detrimental for mechanical properties and considering its possibility to biodegradation behaviour in outdoor application
We analysed the influence of compatibilizers on HDPE-PLA blends
Summary
The importance achieved by thermoplastic polymers during the last decades is undoubted. The thermoplastic global market is about 10% of the global chemical industry and displays one of the most important growths of the world economy [1]. Their development is strictly related to their mechanical properties, production process (easiness to perform serial production), cheapness, and versatile applications [2]. Thermoplastic diffusion did not correspond to an equal attention into end-of-life scenarios of these products. The consequence of this was an important pollution issue, significant on both earth and sea environment [3]. Two strategies appear suitable to be pursued: diffusion of bioderived polymers [4, 5] and production of composites with natural fillers [6, 7]
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