Abstract

Poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) are biodegradable, compostable, and biocompatible polymers that can be produced from annually renewable resources. These properties made them popular in environmentally friendly applications, and their industrial usage and production have grown in the latest years. However, both polymers have a few drawbacks that have limited so far their use: PLLA is hard and brittle with a slow crystallization rate, whereas PBS is ductile, has fast crystallization kinetics, but low modulus. The complementarity of their properties makes their blending a unique opportunity to exploit the favorable properties of the two polymers, which raised considerable research efforts in recent years on blends made of PLLA and PBS. Unfortunately, literature data on PLLA/PBS blends often report contradictory results on miscibility of the two polymers, as well as on the influence of composition on material properties: this creates confusion, complicating their exploitation. As an effort to elucidate miscibility and properties of the blends as function of composition, a critical analysis of the available research results on blends made of PLLA and PBS is provided in this review. The aim is to highlight the potentiality of PLLA/PBS blends, whose properties can be tailored by fine-tuning the composition.

摘要

聚( l-乳酸) (PLLA) 和聚丁二酸丁二醇酯 (PBS) 是可生物降解、可堆肥和生物相容性的聚合物，可以由每年可再生资源生产。这些特性使它们在环保应用中广受欢迎，并且它们的工业用途和生产在最近几年有所增长。然而，这两种聚合物都有一些缺点，迄今为止限制了它们的使用：PLLA 硬而脆，结晶速度慢，而 PBS 具有延展性，结晶动力学快，但模量低。它们性质的互补性使它们的共混成为利用这两种聚合物的有利性质的独特机会，近年来对由 PLLA 和 PBS 制成的共混物进行了大量的研究工作。很遗憾，关于 PLLA/PBS 混合物的文献数据经常报告两种聚合物的混溶性以及成分对材料特性的影响的相互矛盾的结果：这会造成混淆，使它们的开发复杂化。为了阐明作为组成函数的共混物的混溶性和性质，本综述提供了对由 PLLA 和 PBS 制成的共混物的现有研究结果的批判性分析。目的是突出 PLLA/PBS 混合物的潜力，其特性可以通过微调成分来定制。本综述提供了对由 PLLA 和 PBS 制成的混合物的现有研究结果的批判性分析。目的是突出 PLLA/PBS 混合物的潜力，其特性可以通过微调成分来定制。本综述提供了对由 PLLA 和 PBS 制成的混合物的现有研究结果的批判性分析。目的是突出 PLLA/PBS 混合物的潜力，其特性可以通过微调成分来定制。