Effect of Reactive Extrusion in Plasticized Polylactide Formulations with Biobased Dibutyl Itaconate

The use of plasticizers usually has a beneficial effect on the ductile properties of polymers due to a reduction in the interaction of the polymer chains. As a result of this reduced interaction, there is also a reduction in the tensile strength of the material up to 20.3 MPa. To improve the interaction of polymer and plasticizer without affecting the ductility of the material, and potential migration, a reactive extrusion (REX) process is proposed in this research, by using several organic peroxides in poly(lactide)-dibutyl itaconate (DBI) plasticized formulations. Test specimens are obtained by extrusion and injection moulding and the overall mechanical properties, thermal degradation and biodegradation were measured. The tensile strength increased up to 25.1 MPa and with an elongation above 270%.