Issue 38, 2019

In situ formation of PLA-grafted alkoxysilanes for toughening a biodegradable PLA stereocomplex thin film

Abstract

Poly(lactide) (PLA) has received tremendous attention recently from researchers and industrialists due to its ability to solve environmental problems related to plastic pollution. However, PLA's brittleness, poor thermal stability, low elongation at break, and poor melt processing prevent its use in a broader spectrum of applications. Herein, we produced a very tough and thermally more stable PLA stereocomplex by simply mixing PLA with organoalkoxysilane. The stereocomplex PLA/silane (sc-PLA–silane) composite was prepared by simple mixing of three types of organoalkoxysilanes in sc-PLA followed by in situ formation of a silane-based rubbery core with a cross-linked PLA shell. Mechanical and thermal properties were improved by stereocomplexation of PLA with a small amount (1–5 wt%) of PLA-grafted silanes. The addition of organoalkoxysilane with different functional groups resulted in a plasticizer of rubbery silica-PLA core–shell gel through in situ condensation and grafting of long PLA chains at the interface between the stereocomplex and silane particles. The results revealed that the toughness of sc-PLA was improved dramatically with only a small addition (only 2.5%) of 3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl isocyanate (ICPTES). The morphology and mechanical and thermal properties of the toughened stereocomplex films were characterized. The results revealed that elongation at break was increased from 16% to 120%, while other mechanical properties such as tensile strength and modulus were retained. Surface analysis confirmed that this toughness was achieved by formation of a silica-PLA core–shell gel. The mechanical properties of PLA were improved without any significant reduction in modulus and tensile strength using this simple methodology.

Graphical abstract: In situ formation of PLA-grafted alkoxysilanes for toughening a biodegradable PLA stereocomplex thin film

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 May 2019
Accepted
08 Jul 2019
First published
15 Jul 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2019,9, 21748-21759

In situ formation of PLA-grafted alkoxysilanes for toughening a biodegradable PLA stereocomplex thin film

J. Jeong, M. Ayyoob, J. Kim, S. W. Nam and Y. J. Kim, RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 21748 DOI: 10.1039/C9RA03299A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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