Study on dual-monomer melt-grafted poly(lactic acid) compatibilized poly(lactic acid)/polyamide 11 blends and toughened melt-blown nonwovens

With increasing demands on the high-performance and environmental-friendly melt-blown nonwovens (MBs) for separation and filtration, herein, we reported a poly(lactic acid)/polyamide 11 (PLA/PA11) 100% bio-based MBs in situ compatibilized by dual-monomer glycidyl methacrylate–styrene melt-grafted poly(lactic acid) (PLA-g-(St-co-GMA)). The morphology, crystallization, thermal and rheological behaviors of reactive extruded PLA/PA11/PLA-g-(St-co-GMA) melt blends were investigated, and the structure and filtration performance of corresponding MBs were fully characterized. The results indicated that the interface between PLA and PA11 were effectively improved due to the compatibilizer of PLA-g-(St-co-GMA). PA11 promoted the cold crystallization and enhanced the thermal stability of PLA matrix. The reactive blends displayed a higher viscosity with unchanged rheological behaviors compared with PLA. In comparison with PLA MBs, the average fiber diameter and pore size of PLA/PA11/PLA-g-(St-co-GMA) MBs were slightly increased, whereas the strength and toughness were significantly improved. All the PLA/PA11/PLA-g-(St-co-GMA) MBs presented high air permeability and low filtration resistance. High filtration efficiency (>99.8%) could also be obtained especially for the target particles with diameters larger than 2.5 µm.