Abstract
AbstractThe biomass‐based blend of 80/20 (w/w) poly(lactic acid)/poly(butylene succinate) (PLA/PBS) is prepared using an extruder. The prepared blend shows a typical droplet‐matrix morphology. The relaxation behavior of the blend is investigated in terms of storage modulus, loss tangent, and Cole–Cole plots. In the low frequency region, the blend exhibits higher elastic indices than the pure components on the storage modulus and loss tangent curves, and remarkable deviation from a semicircular shape on the Cole–Cole plot. These features are thought to arise from the relaxation of the deformed droplets. The loss tangent curve is more sensitive to the relaxation behavior of the deformed droplets than the storage modulus curve. Moreover, the complex viscosity of the blend is separated into real and imaginary parts to further analyze its relaxation behavior. Three relaxation times for the blend are defined on the curve of the imaginary part of the viscosity. It is demonstrated that the reciprocal of the frequency corresponding to the peak in the low frequency region on the imaginary part curve is equal to the longest relaxation time of the blend obtained from the storage modulus curve. Based on this result, a new method is proposed to calculate the interfacial tension between the PLA and PBS in the blend, which is 3.7 mN/m. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012
Published Version
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