Comparison of recently developed toughening strategies for polylactic acid blends

초록

The biodegradability of plastics has become a primary requirement for society in the future and sustainableengineering technologies. Among the biodegradable polymers, polylactic acid (PLA) is currently thematerial of choice due to being relatively inexpensive and having good physical properties. However, itsmechanical properties still lag behind those of common synthetic polymers, and brittleness is one of themajor concerns for its applicability. Recently, many toughening strategies for PLA have been attempted,and a comparative analysis of them is urgently needed. In this review, we compare the most recent publicationsand intuitively uncover the key fundamental directions in this area. In particular, although asimple evaluation has many difficulties due to the different testing and processing methods used inthe studies, the impact strength, tensile strength, and modulus of PLA after various PLA-tougheningstrategies are compared in detail. The understanding of PLA-toughening strategies provided by thisreview could help the future development of biodegradable plastics in general.

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