Preparation of flexible and transparent polylactic acids films by crystallization manipulation |
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Authors: | Amornrat Lertworasirikul Yuuya Arikawa Tatsuo Kaneko Toshiyuki Kida Mitsuru Akashi |
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Institution: | Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2‐1 Yamada‐oka, Suita 565‐0871, Japan |
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Abstract: | Highly flexible and transparent polylactic acids (PLAs) films were successfully prepared by manipulating their crystallization. The semicrystalline poly(L ‐lactic acid) (L) was blended with a noncrystalline poly(DL ‐lactic acid) (DL) together with diglycerol tetraacetate (DGTA). Optimal DGTA content to plasticize PLAs was about 17%. Addition of DL hindered the crystallization of the films. Tensile strengths of the films having DL content more than 5% were about 10 MPa while the elongations at break were boosted as DL content increased. Films having L/DL ratio of 50/50 showed elongations at break of 270%. Stretch ability and clarity of films containing 15–50% DL were fair although they were subjected to annealing at 60 °C for 1 h. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6489–6495, 2008 |
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Keywords: | biopolymers diglycerol tetraacetate films flexibility polylactic acid transparency |
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