Abstract
Polylactic acid (PLA) holds enormous potential as an alternative to the ubiquitous petroleum-based plastics to be used in packaging film and agricultural film. However, the poor viscoelastic behavior and its extremely low melt strength means it fails to meet the requirements in film blowing processing, which is the most efficient film processing method with the lowest costs. Also, the PLA’s brittleness and insufficient gas barrier properties also seriously limit PLA’s potential application as a common film material. Herein, special stereocomplex (SC) networks were introduced to improve the melt strength and film blowing stability of PLA; polyethylene glycol (PEG) was introduced to improve PLA’s toughness and gas barrier properties. Compared with neat poly(l-lactide) acid (PLLA), modified PLA is stable in the film blowing process and its film elongation at break increases more than 18 times and reaches over 250%, and its O2 permeability coefficient decreased by 61%. The resulting film material also has good light transmittance, which has great potential for green packaging applications, such as disposable packaging and agricultural films.
Highlights
The most widely used plastic products are films, especially packaging and agricultural films
Toughness, and barrier property can be improved effectively, it is possible for Polylactic acid (PLA) to be used in the film blowing process, providing conditions for the industrial production and application of PLA film products
Stereocomplex (SC) crystallites can be formed by blending poly(l-lactide) acid (PLLA) with poly(d-lactide) acid (PDLA), which has about a 50 ◦ C higher melting point than neat PLA
Summary
The most widely used plastic products are films, especially packaging and agricultural films. Waste plastic films have brought about almost irreversible environmental damage and become a hot issue globally. PLA can barely be used for industrial film blowing because of its low melt strength, brittleness, and low gas barrier property [3,4,5]. Toughness, and barrier property can be improved effectively, it is possible for PLA to be used in the film blowing process, providing conditions for the industrial production and application of PLA film products. The SC structure has been proved effective in improving the viscosity and crystallization ability of PLA [6,7]
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