Toughened poly(butylene succinate)/polylactide/poly(vinyl acetate) ternary blend without sacrificing the strength

In this paper, poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)/polylactide (PLA)/poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) ternary blends were prepared via directly blending. The content of PBS in each sample was fixed at 30 wt% and that of PVAc was different, 2, 4 or 6%. PBS/PLA (30/70, g/g) and PLA/PVAc (66/4, g/g) were also prepared for comparison. XRD and DSC results showed that PVAc was miscible with PLA, and the crystallinity (X- c ) of PLA in PBS/PLA increased by adding PBS, but X- c of PBS and PLA in PBS/PLA/PVAc ternary blends reduced by adding PVAc. SEM images showed that PBS was dispersed as droplets in each blend The addition of PVAc improved the compatibility between PBS and PLA, and the fracture surfaces of the ternary blends became rougher than that of PBS/PLA. The tensile and impact tests results showed that PVAc could enhance PLA and the highly toughened PBS/PLA blend. Finally, PBS/PLA/PVAc blend with 2% of PVAc was highly toughened without sacrificing its strength. Its strength was the same as that of PBS/PLA, while the elongation at break and impact strength of the former were 2.8 and 2.5 times those of the latter.