Avaliação da reatividade entre o biopolímero poli (ácido lático) (PLA) e o polietileno enxertado com ácido acrílico (PEgAA) e do efeito da concentração de PEgAA nas propriedades e na morfologia da blenda PLA/PEgAA.

Abstract

The poly(lactic acid) (PLA) has attracted great interest from both academia and industry mainly due to its biodegradability, some attractive mechanical properties and because it is synthesized from raw materials from renewable sources. However, PLA has some drawbacks such as high brittleness, low crystallization rate, sensitivity to moisture, and deterioration at high temperatures, which limit its applications and compromise its processing and final performance, needing to be modified, so it can meet market expectations. Thus, the modification of PLA was carried by blending it with polyethylene grafted with acrylic acid (PEgAA), assessing the reactivity between the functional groups of the two polymers and the effect of different PEgAA copolymer content on the properties of PLA/PEgAA blend. PLA/PEgAA blends containing 5, 10, 15 and 20% (wt) of PEgAA were prepared in a co-rotational twinscrew extruder, and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), mechanical properties, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and rheological measurements. FTIR results indicated that a polyesterification reaction between the hydroxyl groups of PLA and the carboxyl groups of PEgAA has occurred. DSC and DMTA analyses indicated that the addition of PEgAA to PLA led to the decrease in both the glass transition (Tg) and the cold crystallization (Tcc) temperatures. The PEgAA domains size increased with the increase in the PEgAA content. With the addition of PEgAA there was a slight increase in the impact strength of the blends containing 5 and 10% of PEgAA, when compared to that of neat PLA. The PLA/PEgAA blend containing 15% (wt) of PEgAA presented the highest complex viscosity and storage modulus at low frequencies.