Our latest work on biodegradable and biobased block copolymers prepared by reactive extrusion, which was performed in collaboration with AIMPLAS was just published in Polymers (IF 4.329). This article belongs to the Special Issue Women in Polymer Science and Technology: Sustainable Polymers edited by Dr Andreia Sousa and Prof Nadia Lotti, which aims to promote the recognition of women’s abilities and their contributions to science, and especially the biobased polymers field in Europe, in which women in academia and industry play an essential role.
While PLA has many attractive properties, its biodegradation rate is extremely slow and it is quite britte. To solve these problems, a propylene adipate oligomer was copolymerized with PLA using reactive extrusion, which offers a fast and economical alternative to the traditional polymerization procedure. In fact, with reactive extrusion, PLA and its copolymers can by synthesized in under 20 min.
We are looking forward to continuoing our collaboration with AIMPLAS, who also participates in the BIOMAC project with their reactive extrusion Pilot Line.
Abstract
Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a biobased polyester with ever-growing applications in the fields of packaging and medicine. Despite its popularity, it suffers from inherent brittleness, a very slow degradation rate and a high production cost. To tune the properties of PLA, block copolymers with poly(propylene adipate) (PPAd) prepolymer were prepared by polymerizing L-lactide and PPAd oligomers via reactive extrusion (REX) in a torque rheometer. The effect of reaction temperature and composition on the molecular weight, chemical structure, and physicochemical properties of the copolymers was studied. The introduction of PPAd successfully increased the elongation and the biodegradation rate of PLA. REX is an efficient and economical alternative method for the fast and continuous synthesis of PLA-based copolymers with tunable properties.
To read the full article, click here (open access).