Enhancement of mechanical, rheological and antifungal properties of polylactic acid/ethylene–vinyl-acetate blend by triacetin plasticizer

In this study, a compatible blend of 85 wt% polylactic acid and 15wt%poly(ethylene vinyl acetate) (PLA85/EVA15) was added with different amounts of Triacetin (TRI) as a plasticizer. The thermal, tensile, rheological, antifungal and morphological properties of the unplasticized blend, plasticized blends (PLA/EVA-TRI) and plasticized PLA (PLA/TRI) were studied. Thermal stability improved as TRI increased up to 20 wt% while crystallinities continuously increased in the presence of 5—25 wt%TRI. The presence of 15 wt% TRI revealed tensile strength reduced to 21.28 MPa but toughness significantly improved when elongation at break increased up to 280%. At a similar amount of plasticizer based on the weight of the compound, PLA85/EVA15-TRI25 showed comparable thermal properties and tensile strength but higher elongation at break compared with PLA80/TRI20 indicating the importance of EVA in improving the properties of plasticized PLA. Antifungal ability against Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp, and Fusarium sp improved with the increasing amount of TRI.