Issue 12, 2024

Compatibilization of PLA/PBAT blends with epoxidized canola oil for 3D printing applications

Abstract

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a bioderived and biodegradable thermoplastic biopolyester that is widely used in 3D printing. Although PLA is an excellent example of a high-performance naturally derived building block that has found practical applications in a number of different markets, PLA-printed parts often exhibit poor toughness and brittle mechanical behavior. In order to improve the outlook of PLA in material extrusion (MEX) 3D printing applications, this work aims to develop impact-modified and fully biodegradable blends comprising PLA and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) PBAT, compatibilized with epoxidized canola oil (ECO). Importantly, our approach is fundamentally different from previous examples, which typically rely on non-bioderived or non-biodegradable compatibilizers to improve blend performance. Here, blends of PLA and PBAT having various ratios were prepared by melt compounding with 5 phr ECO. Importantly, the addition of ECO did not significantly alter the rheological properties of the blends, but exerted a plasticizing effect reducing the glass transition and cold crystallization temperatures of the blends. Microstructural and mechanical analyses of compression-molded samples revealed uniform dispersion of PBAT domains within the PLA matrix in the presence of ECO, leading to a 62% and 106% increase in impact strength for blends containing 20 and 30 wt% PBAT, respectively, as compared to non-compatibilized blends. Based on significant improvements in impact strength, 70/30 PLA/PBAT blends with 5 phr ECO were chosen for 3D printing experiments. Parts printed from PLA/PBAT blends displayed poor fusion between strands, resulting in voids and brittle failure during tensile testing. In the case of compatibilized blends, ECO incorporation facilitated fusion between neighboring strands, enhancing ductility during tensile testing. Therefore, we demonstrate that the addition of ECO to PLA/PBAT blends not only enhances compatibilization but also improves printability and strand healing during MEX 3D printing. We anticipate that the results presented here could pave the way for the development of high-performance and fully biodegradable materials and blends through a variety of extrusion-based processing methods.

Graphical abstract: Compatibilization of PLA/PBAT blends with epoxidized canola oil for 3D printing applications

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 3月 2024
Accepted
05 5月 2024
First published
07 5月 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Mater. Adv., 2024,5, 5194-5203

Compatibilization of PLA/PBAT blends with epoxidized canola oil for 3D printing applications

M. Wahbi, Q. Litke, D. Levin, S. Liu, K. J. De France and M. Kontopoulou, Mater. Adv., 2024, 5, 5194 DOI: 10.1039/D4MA00233D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements