Preparation and Recycling of Plasticized PLA

Abstract

Abstract PLA is one of the most interesting new polymeric materials, mainly because of its favorable environmental features. On the other hand, one of its drawbacks is represented by its brittleness and low impact resistance. A possible solution may be the use of proper impact modifiers. Furthermore, limited knowledge exists on the behavior of PLA upon recycling. In this paper, a detailed investigation has been carried out on the behavior of PLA systems upon adding small amounts of commercial impact modifiers, and the effects of multiple recycling steps have been studied. The use of impact modifiers can effectively improve mechanical properties. Recycling led to a significant reduction in the impact strength; however a relatively high fraction of the other mechanical properties was still retained. magnified image