TITLE:
Increased Elongation at Breaking Point with Improved Mechanical Characteristics in PLA
AUTHORS:
Vishal Atnurkar, Jens Schuster, Yousuf Pasha Shaik
KEYWORDS:
Polylactic Acid, Biodegradable Thermoplastic Polyester, Elongation, Zeolite, Glycerol, Toughness Elongation, Thermal Stability
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Composite Materials,
Vol.13 No.2,
April
20,
2023
ABSTRACT: The main goal of this research was to increase the strength of Polylactic acid (PLA), an entirely biodegradable thermoplastic polyester, and an increase in elongation at the breaking point compared to neat PLA. To this end, S1, S2, and S3 were melt blended with various percentages of Zeolite, Glycerol, White vinegar, green camphor, Eucalyptus, and Carom seed oils. Here, the addition of glycerol, eucalyptus, and carom seed oils demonstrated an average improvement in impact and tensile strength of 13.44% and 14.55% respectively. Zeolite and glycerol work together as binding agents to improve stress transfer in the matrix, which increases tensile and flexural modulus as well as toughness elongation (>10%). The addition of the aforementioned materials led to an increase in the glass transition temperature and melting temperature, according to further DSC investigation. The thermal stability increased gradually, according to TGA data.