Rheology of Wood Flour Filled Poly(lactic acid)

This work investigates the rheological properties of wood flour filled poly(lactic acid) at typical processing temperatures, i.e. 155°C, 165°C and 175°C, using a parallel plate rheometer run in oscillatory mode. Materials with three different filler loading levels (10, 20 and 30% wt.) are characterized together with the neat matrix. Considering the complex viscosity curves, it is found that a single master curve can be obtained, which allows to predict the viscosity of the material at any filler loading level and any temperature that are included in the interval tested.