Abstract
We synthesized 3–16 armed methyl-β-cyclodextrin-poly(l-lactide) (MCD-PLLA) polymers, and then blended them with PLLA. The addition of MCD-PLLA with 9 or 12 arms to PLLA dramatically increased the elongation at break (E) and toughness (UT) of PLLA with little affecting its Tg and tensile strength. The highest E and UT were obtained to be 127% and 6.85 GJ/m3, respectively, for PLLA blends containing these MCD-PLLAs. It was confirmed that the MCD-PLLA served as a nucleation agent for PLLA, inducing PLLA chains to form smaller and more uniform-sized crystallites compared with pure PLLA. The homogeneous fragmentation of these small and uniform-sized crystallites during tensile deformation consequently resulted in such a remarkable increase in E and UT. In contrast, the addition of MCD-PLLAs with more than 12 arms to PLLA decreased its E and UT mainly due to preferential crystallization by themselves. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 257-265 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Macromolecular Research |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 Mar 1 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019, The Polymer Society of Korea and Springer.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Chemical Engineering(all)
- Organic Chemistry
- Polymers and Plastics
- Materials Chemistry