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A new insight into morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of melt-processed polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) blends

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dc.contributor.author Botlhoko, Orebotse J
dc.contributor.author Ramontja, J
dc.contributor.author Ray, Suprakas S
dc.date.accessioned 2018-11-30T09:03:14Z
dc.date.available 2018-11-30T09:03:14Z
dc.date.issued 2018-08
dc.identifier.citation Botlhoko, O.J., Ramontja, J. and Ray, S.S. 2018. A new insight into morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of melt-processed polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) blends. Polymer Degradation and Stability, vol. 154: 84-95 en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0141-3910
dc.identifier.issn 1873-2321
dc.identifier.uri https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141391018301782
dc.identifier.uri https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2018.05.025
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10569
dc.description Copyright: 2018 Elsevier. Due to copyright restrictions, the attached PDF file only contains the abstract of the full text item. For access to the full text item, please consult the publisher's website. The definitive version of the work is published in Polymer Degradation and Stability, vol. 154: 84-95 en_US
dc.description.abstract Biodegradable polylactide (PLA)/poly (e-caprolactone) (PCL) blend is a well-studied immiscible polymer blend system; however, there is no fundamental understanding of how the dispersed phase morphology controls the thermal stability, and the thermal and mechanical properties of the blend systems. Addressing this research question, a series of PLA/PCL blends were processed using melt-blending technique. The results show that the unique thermal stability of the dispersed PCL domains prolonged the complete degradation process of PLA. Furthermore, altering the activation energies (Ea) of PLA/PCL blends revealed that thermal stability depends not only on the governing mechanism change during degradation process but also on the behavior of phase-separated morphology characteristics. The presence of evenly dispersed PCL particles within PLA matrix enhanced the crystallization rate coefficient of PLA and tailored the spherulite morphologies by acting as a nucleating agent, thus promoting the crystallization ability of PLA chains. Consequently, remarkable increase in elongation at break was achieved for 60PLA/40PCL blend, with well-balance tensile modulus and tensile strength characteristics. Despite the significant storage modulus increase of the blends at low temperatures, significant storage modulus decrease is noted with increasing temperature, due to packing density, chain mobility phenomenon, and unfrozen PCL molecules. The enhanced processability of PLA by ductile PCL, with improved and balanced properties, enables the technological advancement of bio-based PLA for a wide range of applications. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Elsevier en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries Worklist;21482
dc.subject Polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) immiscible blends en_US
dc.subject Thermal degradation kinetics en_US
dc.subject Crystallization behavior en_US
dc.title A new insight into morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of melt-processed polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) blends en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.identifier.apacitation Botlhoko, O. J., Ramontja, J., & Ray, S. S. (2018). A new insight into morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of melt-processed polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) blends. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10569 en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitation Botlhoko, Orebotse J, J Ramontja, and Suprakas S Ray "A new insight into morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of melt-processed polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) blends." (2018) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10569 en_ZA
dc.identifier.vancouvercitation Botlhoko OJ, Ramontja J, Ray SS. A new insight into morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of melt-processed polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) blends. 2018; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10569. en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Article AU - Botlhoko, Orebotse J AU - Ramontja, J AU - Ray, Suprakas S AB - Biodegradable polylactide (PLA)/poly (e-caprolactone) (PCL) blend is a well-studied immiscible polymer blend system; however, there is no fundamental understanding of how the dispersed phase morphology controls the thermal stability, and the thermal and mechanical properties of the blend systems. Addressing this research question, a series of PLA/PCL blends were processed using melt-blending technique. The results show that the unique thermal stability of the dispersed PCL domains prolonged the complete degradation process of PLA. Furthermore, altering the activation energies (Ea) of PLA/PCL blends revealed that thermal stability depends not only on the governing mechanism change during degradation process but also on the behavior of phase-separated morphology characteristics. The presence of evenly dispersed PCL particles within PLA matrix enhanced the crystallization rate coefficient of PLA and tailored the spherulite morphologies by acting as a nucleating agent, thus promoting the crystallization ability of PLA chains. Consequently, remarkable increase in elongation at break was achieved for 60PLA/40PCL blend, with well-balance tensile modulus and tensile strength characteristics. Despite the significant storage modulus increase of the blends at low temperatures, significant storage modulus decrease is noted with increasing temperature, due to packing density, chain mobility phenomenon, and unfrozen PCL molecules. The enhanced processability of PLA by ductile PCL, with improved and balanced properties, enables the technological advancement of bio-based PLA for a wide range of applications. DA - 2018-08 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) immiscible blends KW - Thermal degradation kinetics KW - Crystallization behavior LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2018 SM - 0141-3910 SM - 1873-2321 T1 - A new insight into morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of melt-processed polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) blends TI - A new insight into morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of melt-processed polylactide/poly(e-caprolactone) blends UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10569 ER - en_ZA


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