The Mechanical, Thermal, Rheological and Morphological Properties of PLA/PBAT Blown Films by Using Bis(tert‐butyl dioxy isopropyl) Benzene as Crosslinking Agent

Blown films of poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) (PBAT) blends were prepared, bis(tert‐butyl dioxy isopropyl) benzene (BIBP) as crosslinking agent. From wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction results, PLA/PBAT/BIBP involved all the diffraction peaks were consistent with PLA and PBAT. For the DSC curves of PLA/PBAT/BIBP films, there were two glass transition temperature and two melt temperature, there existed two step decomposition in the thermogravimetric curves. Both Han plots and Cole–Cole plots indicated high homogeneity of the 40/60/0.1 PLA/PBAT/BIBP blend. SEM micrographs of the films revealed more ductile deformation with increasing PBAT content and 40/60/0.1 sample had better miscible compared with others. For the PLA/PBAT/BIBP films, tensile tests indicated that the elongation at break were increased with increasing PBAT content and the values of the tensile strength in the machine direction were higher than those in the transverse direction. The addition of PBAT, enhanced the toughness of the PLA/PBAT/BIBP films. From tear test and heat sealing test, the 40/60/0.1 PLA/PBAT/BIBP film exhibited the highest tear strength and the highest sealing strength among all the samples. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:E227–E236, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers