Assessment of Compatibility in Polypropylene/Poly(lactic acid)/Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol Ternary Blends: Relating Experiments and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Results

ABSTRACTTwo systems of polypropylene (PP), poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) ternary blends having different compositions were extruded in a co-rotating twin screw extruder. The first system was PP/PLA (75/25) with various EVOH contents, the second one was PP/EVOH (75/25) having various PLA contents. The effects of composition on the morphology and the tensile and impact properties of the blends were investigated. There were increases in the tensile modulus and tensile strength with an increase in the EVOH and PLA contents in the first and second systems, respectively. A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was used to investigate the compatibility between the components. Prediction of the miscibility of the blends was carried out by determining the interaction parameters (χ), mixing energies (ΔHmix), phase diagrams and Gibbs free energies. The MD simulation showed a UCST behavior for the components. Moreover, the simulation results showed a compatibilizer effect for the EV...