Poly (lactic acid) or polylactide (PLA) is an aliphatic thermoplastic polyester produced from renewable resources and is compostable in the environment. Because of the massive use of foamed products of petroleum-based polymers, PLA foams have been considered as substitutes for some of these products. Specifically, because of PLA's competitive material and processing costs, and its comparable mechanical properties, PLA foams could potentially replace polystyrene (PS) foam products in a wide array of applications such as packaging, cushioning, construction, thermal and sound insulation, and plastic utensils. Due to their biocompatibility, PLA foams can also be used in such biomedical applications as scaffolding and tissue engineering. But PLA has several inherent drawbacks, which inhibit the production of low-density foams with uniform cell morphology. These drawbacks are mainly the PLA's low melt strength and its slow crystallization kinetics. During the last two decades, researchers have investigated the fundamentals of PLA/gas mixtures, PLA foaming mechanisms, and the effects of material modification on PLA's foaming behavior through various manufacturing technologies. This article reviews these investigations and compares the developments made thus far in PLA foaming. 相似文献
Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) toughening is often associated with significant modulus and/or strength losses making it unsuitable for many consumer and biomedical applications. The major objective of this research was to toughen PLA without significant loss in modulus and strength and to introduce reactive acid groups using reactive blending of PLA with a combination of polymers. PLA was reactive blended with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) followed by physical blending with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in solution. The modified PLA was extruded into films using a co‐rotating twin‐screw extruder and characterized using tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA). This technology resulted in films with a ten‐fold increase in toughness compared to neat PLA with little or no decrease in strength and modulus.