ARS | Publication request: DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF THE INTERFACIAL TENSION OF BLENDS WITH BIODEGRADABLE POLYESTERS

Submitted to: Adhesion Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: February 14, 2002
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Biodegradable polyesters are synthetic polymers that have unique properties that make them excellent candidates in biomaterial blends. Biodegradable polyesters provide improved moisture resistance to blends of starch and other biopolymers without impairing their biodegradability properties. They also provide biodegradability and biocompatibility to synthetic polymers. However, successful development of materials from blends of biodegradable polyesters requires understanding the factors affecting the interfacial properties of such blends. A critical requirement to achieving this goal is the ability to directly measure blend interfacial tension (IT) at temperatures corresponding to blending, manufacturing, and use. In this work, the effect of temperature on the IT of a blend comprising the biodegradable polyester polylactic acid (PLA) and polystyrene (PS) were investigated. The IT was directly measured at 160-200 deg C using the imbedded fiber retraction (IFR) method. The IFR allows for the measurement of the IT of blends with high molecular weight and/or high viscosity components. Analysis of the data showed that in the temperature range studied the IT of PLA/PS was independent of temperature and had a value of 5.4 +/ 1.3 dyn/cm.