New development on plasticized poly(lactide): Chemical grafting of citrate on PLA by reactive extrusion

New plasticization ways based on low molecular plasticizers from citrates family were investigated to improve the ductility of poly(lactide) (PLA). Grafting reactions between anhydride-grafted PLA (MAG-PLA) copolymer with hydroxyl-functionalized citrate plasticizer, i.e. tributyl citrate (TbC), were so-carried out through reactive extrusion. TributylO-acetylcitrate (ATbC) was used as a non-functionalized reference. Both plasticizers drastically decreased the Tg of PLA. However, the grafting reaction of TbC into MAG-PLA revealed a shift of PLA Tg toward higher values. After 6 months of aging, no phase separation was observed. However, plasticizer leaching was noticed in the case of PLA/ATbC materials, leading to the shift of Tg toward lower temperatures. In contrast, no major leaching phenomenon was noticed in PLA/TbC and PLA/MAG-PLA/TbC blends, indicating that the mobility restriction derived from the hydrogen bonding that can occur between PLA and TbC as well as the grafting reaction of TbC into MAG-PLA enabled to reduce leaching phenomena.

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► New poly(lactide) (PLA) plasticization ways based on low molecular plasticizers from citrates family via reactive extrusion.
► In-situ reactive blending performance of anhydride-grafted PLA copolymer with tributyl citrate.
► Effect of the physical aging on the thermal–mechanical properties of plasticized PLA blends.