Volume 142, Issue 14 e56682
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effect of Poly(Ethylene Glycol)-Poly(d-Lactide) Block Copolymers on the Microstructure and Performances of Poly(l-Lactide)/Rubber Blends

Huili Liu

Huili Liu

Chongqing Key Laboratory for Resource Utilization of Heavy Metal Wastewater, School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China

Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), ​Investigation (lead), Supervision (lead), Writing - original draft (lead)

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Luyao Su

Luyao Su

Chongqing Key Laboratory of Materials Surface & Interface Science, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China

Contribution: Data curation (lead), Software (lead)

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Ruihan Li

Ruihan Li

Chongqing Key Laboratory for Resource Utilization of Heavy Metal Wastewater, School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China

Contribution: Formal analysis (lead), ​Investigation (supporting)

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Liting Wang

Liting Wang

Chongqing Key Laboratory for Resource Utilization of Heavy Metal Wastewater, School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China

Contribution: ​Investigation (supporting), Validation (lead)

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Dongyu Bai

Corresponding Author

Dongyu Bai

Chongqing Key Laboratory of Materials Surface & Interface Science, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China

Correspondence:

Dongyu Bai ([email protected]; [email protected])

Contribution: Funding acquisition (lead), Resources (lead), Supervision (supporting), Writing - review & editing (lead)

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First published: 04 January 2025

Funding: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51903025, 51903027); Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (cstc2020jcyj-msxmX0983, CSTB2022NSCQ-MSX0353, CSTB2023NSCQ-LZX0058); Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (KJQN202201335, KJZD-K202301311).

ABSTRACT

In this article, poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(d-lactide) (PEG-PDLA) block copolymers with different PEG chain lengths were synthesized and melt-mixed with poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) and rubber nanoparticles. The role of PEG-PDLA block copolymers in tailoring the microstructures and performances of PLLA/rubber blend were investigated in detail. It was found that high contents of stereocomplex (SC) crystals were generated in PLLA/rubber/PEG-PDLA copolymer blends, which induced rubber nanoparticles to agglomerate and form network-like structures. The size of rubber aggregates and continuity of rubber network-like structures first increased and then declined significantly as the PEG chain length increased. Resultingly, the impact toughness of PLLA/rubber/PEG-PDLA copolymer blends first remarkably increased to 74.1 kJ/m2 and then decreased to 30.6 kJ/m2. Meanwhile, the elongation at break increased with increasing PEG chain length and little loss of tensile strength happened, revealing good stiffness-toughness balance performances of PLLA/rubber/PEG-PDLA copolymer blends. Moreover, the matrix crystallization rate of PLLA/rubber/PEG-PDLA copolymer blends could be greatly increased by increasing PEG chain length and the PLLA/rubber/PEG-PDLA copolymer blends exhibited much higher Vicat softening temperatures than PLLA/rubber blend, which confirmed the excellent heat resistance of PLLA/rubber/PEG-PDLA copolymer blends. These interesting findings suggested that PEG-PDLA block copolymers were highly conducive to prepare PLLA materials with outstanding comprehensive performances.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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