Abstract:
Crosslinking structures of PLA can be effectively introduced into PLA by melt mixing using the initiation of dicumyl peroxide (DCP) in the presence of ethoxylated bisphenol A dimethacrylates (Bis−EMAs) which was used as a crosslinking agent. The results showed that the introduction of DCP into PLA above 3 phr increased storage modulus and complex viscosity when compared to PLA. DCP/PLA in the presence of Bis−EMAs content showed the optimum of storage modulus and complex viscosity were at a 5 phr Bis–EMAs loading and decreased as more Bis–EMAs were incorporated into DCP/PLA. The thermal stability of DCP/PLA/Bis–EMAs did not change when compared to PLA. Moreover, glass transition and cold crystallization temperatures of 0.3DCP/PLA/Bis–EMAs and 0.5DCP/PLA/Bis–EMAs slightly increased with increasing Bis–EMAs content. The crystallinity of DCP/PLA and DCP/PLA/Bis–EMAs were lower than that of PLA. The introductions of DCP and Bis–EMAs into PLA showed an increase of Young’s modulus and a decrease of elongation at break. In addition, the dynamic mechanical properties revealed the improvement in high-temperature performance efficiency of the crosslinked PLAs where, in this work, their flow, thermal, mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties increased with increasing Bis−EMAs content up to 5 phr.
