Modified alkaline lignin for ductile polylactide composites

For many years, it has remained a hot topic to create a ductile polylactic acid (PLA) composite, especially by the modified lignin. Herein, we demonstrated a facile method for modified alkaline lignin (LMP) which was a toughener for PLA in the presence of polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400). The mechanical tests showed that in addition to a high extensibility of 328.8%, as-designed PLA/PEG400/LMP ternary blend exhibited excellent toughness of 65.4 MJ·m −3 and high notched impact strength of 10.9 kJ·m −2 , which were respectively 12 and 2 folds of those of neat PLA. Moreover, the toughening mechanism of LMP particles in PLA composites from the morphology study was demonstrated. More importantly, it was meaningful to turn industrial waste lignin into wealth.