Synthesis of Fatty Acid-Based Polyesters and Their Blends with Poly(l-lactide) as a Way To Tailor PLLA Toughness

Polylactide (PLA) is one of the most mature biobased and biocompostable plastics currently in the market. Despite its mechanical properties comparable to the ones of some mainstream petroleum-based thermoplastics (PS, for instance), PLA inherent brittleness and heat sensitivity are issues for its full industrial development. In this study, we investigated the melt-blending of PLLA (poly-l-lactide) with fatty acid-based flexible polyesters as an efficient way to tailor PLLA toughness. To that aim, a set of aliphatic polyesters has been developed by taking benefit of the large range of biobased building blocks that can be obtained from plant oils. Melt-blending of the so-formed polyesters with PLLA resulted in improved properties that can be finely tailored by varying the structure and the properties of the plant-based polyester additives.