Study on the Degradation Behavior and Mechanism of Poly(lactic acid) Modification by Ferric Chloride

Abstract A kind of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) material with rapid degradation capacity was prepared with ferric chloride (FeCl3), it’s degradation rate was more than 10 times higher than that of pure PLA. FeCl3 forms stable chemical bonds with C and O, which weakens the ester bond and leads to rapid degradation of PLA immensely. The degradation process of modified PLA is greatly accelerated because the presence of Fe3+ facilitates the first step of the degradation process. The thermal stability of the modified materials decreased greatly, and the PLA changed from a higher crystalline polymer to an almost non-crystalline polymer with increasing FeCl3 content, which enhanced the degradation rate due to the reduced intermolecular force. In terms of the degradation performance, the modified materials containing 2.95 phr FeCl3 possessed the best comprehensive performance.