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On the Synthesis and Characterization of Polylactic Acid, Polyhydroxyalkanoate, Cellulose Acetate, and Their Engineered Blends by Solvent Casting

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Abstract

In this paper, we report the synthesis of polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), cellulose acetate (CA), and their binary and ternary blends by solvent casting. PLA, PHA, and CA had tensile strengths of ~ 59.4, ~ 17.4 and ~ 23.9 MPa, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed that binary blends of PLA and PHA are immiscible in each other. During mechanical testing, 50 PHA–50 PLA showed mild enhancement and had a tensile strength of ~ 37.8 MPa as compared to 75 PLA–25 PHA and 25 PLA–75 PHA, which had tensile strengths of ~ 31.2 and ~ 22.9 MPa, respectively. This may be due to the formation of crystallized PHA in PLA matrix, which was further supported by the DSC results and analysis of fractured surface of 50 PHA–50 PLA. The addition of 24, 49, 74, and 89.5 vol.% CA in the PHA matrix improved the tensile strength to ~ 25.8, ~ 25.9, ~ 44.9, and ~ 42.4 MPa, respectively. Based on DSC results, it is hypothesized that the strength enhancement is due to synergistic effect of crystallization of PHA and plasticizing effect of CA additions. The addition of CA in PLA caused severe demixing, and the strength of PLA matrix reduced to ~ 25.8 and ~ 21.4 MPa after the additions of 24 and 49 vol.% CA in PLA matrix, respectively. In ternary blends, the addition of 5 and 19 vol.% CA degraded the strength of PHA–PLA to ~ 22.6 and ~ 21.8 MPa, respectively. However, after the addition of higher concentrations of CA, for example 32, 59, and 79 vol.% CA additions in PHA–PLA matrix, the strength improved to ~ 32.9, ~ 39.3, and ~ 32.1 MPa, respectively. The enhancement in strength can be explained by the increase in amorphous nature of these blends, which was further supported by the DSC results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, USA

    Saud Abu Aldam, Maharshi Dey, Sabah Javaid & Surojit Gupta

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, USA

    Yun Ji

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Abu Aldam, S., Dey, M., Javaid, S. et al. On the Synthesis and Characterization of Polylactic Acid, Polyhydroxyalkanoate, Cellulose Acetate, and Their Engineered Blends by Solvent Casting. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 29, 5542–5556 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-04594-3

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