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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #150679
Title: BLENDS COMPRISING BIODEGRADABLE AND NON-BIODEGRADABLE SYNTHETIC POLYMERS

Author
item Biresaw, Girma
item Mohamed, Abdellatif
item Carriere, Craig

Submitted to: Annual Meeting of the Bio Environmentally Degradable Polymer Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/10/2003
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Blends of biodegradable polymers with non-biodegradable synthetic polymers are of interest in materials development for many reasons. Such blends allow the manufacture of low cost biodegradable blends with the required performance characteristics from non-biodegradable commodity polymers. The commodity synthetic polymer provides the needed mechanical properties and also lowers the cost of the blend; while the biodegradable polyester provides biodegradability and biocompatibility to the blend. However, successful development of such a blend requires that the biodegradable and non-biodegradable synthetic polymers be compatible. Various methods are available to assess blend compatibility. In this work, binary blends of a model synthetic polymer, polystyrene (PS), with several biodegradable polyesters are investigated using TGA and DSC methods. In these studies, the compositions of the blends were varied from pure PS to pure biodegradable polyester, in 25% w/w increments. The results are analyzed and compared to previous studies on the interfacial and tensile properties of such blends.