PLA modification with elastomer for plasticizing and flexibilisation.

The poly (lactic acid) PLA is a biodegradable polymer with great potential due to its versatility, obtention ease and relatively low cost of production. However, it has some application limitations because it’s hard at room temperature. It is sought, therefore, by physical modification, its flexibilisaton and plasticizing by reduction of its glass transition temperature (Tg). It was seen as promising its physical modification with an elastomer. From literature searches, we opted for this work to use two core-shell elastomer with same composition, but synthesized in different conditions. This choice was made because of the existence of polar groups on the elastomer that can interact with PLA. Furthermore, the itaconic acid monomer used for the synthesis of these elastomers are from renewable sources (Zborowski, 2015). PLA samples were prepared with elastomer core-shell type by melting and pressing. Samples were analyzed in order to obtain the characterization of the obtained blends.