Long chain branching polylactide: Structures and properties

Long chain branching (LCB) of polylactide (PLA) was successfully prepared by the successive reactions of the end hydroxyl groups of PLA with pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and triglycidyl isocyanurate (TGIC) together. The topological structures of the LCB generated from functional group reactions as well as free radical reactions were investigated thoroughly by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and rheology. Qualitative information about the branching structures could be readily obtained from linear viscoelasticity, non-linear oscillatory shear experiments and strain hardening in elongational experiments. For quantitative information on chain structure, linear viscoelasticity combined with branch-on-branch (BOB) dynamic model was used to predict exact compositions and chain topologies of the products, which were reasonably explained by the suggested mechanism of functional group reactions. It was found out that the tree-like LCB structure generated in these reactions contributed remarkably to the enhancement of strain hardening under elongational flow, which improves the foaming ability substantially.