Phase transitions and compatibility for biodegradable PLA/PBS blends

Biodegradable Poly(latic acid)(PLA)/Poly(butylene succinate)(PBS) polyblend herein were blended by a melt-blending process to develop a biodegradable thermal plastic elastomer. The phase transitions and compatibility for PLA/PBS polyblend were tested by DMA and DSC. The PLA/PBS blends on the DSC present three transition regions, PBS glass transition region at -31∼-37° C, PLA glass transition region at 52∼58°C, and PBS melt-crystal region at 108∼110°, which indicating that the PLA/PBS blends occur phase separation resulted from nucleation and growth. The glass transition regions for PLA/PBS blends have no obvious change in the DMA. Thus, the PLA/PBS blends possess two-phase separation morphology due to low compatibility. Furthermore, the Tan δ values were increase with the increase of PBS content, indicating that the toughness and impact resistance for PLA/PBS have obvious improvement.