Sustainable biobased blends from the reactive extrusion of polylactide and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene

Polymer blends containing poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) with high biobased content (50%) were made by extrusion and injection molding. Two additives, one acrylic copolymer and one chain extender were used separately and in combination to increase mechanical properties. Interestingly, the combination of both the acrylic copolymer and chain extender worked to synergistically increase the impact strength by almost 600%. This was attributed to the complementary additive toughening effects which allowed increased energy dissipation of the blend at high speed testing, such as in the impact test. Morphology and rheology investigation showed that the two additives worked together to vastly change the dispersion and phase sizes, suggesting a decreased tension between the PLA and ABS. Finally, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy supported the evidence that the epoxy groups of the chain extender undergo ring opening to react with the functional groups of the PLA. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43771.