Controlling the stereostructure of non-planar ring to induce the transition from plastic to elastomer in poly(butylene adipate-co-1,4-cyclohexane dicarboxylate) and implement of polylactic acid toughness

The controllable polyesters with high overall performance are obtained by tuning the stereostructure of 1,4-cyclohexylene ring moieties (CHRMs) in poly(butylene adipate- co −1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylate) (PBAC). After increasing the number of irregular cis -CHRMs in the polyester, PBAC can transform from semicrystalline polymer to amorphous one. PBAC with 58% cis -CHRMs starts to exhibit good elasticity with shape recovery of 60% at 250% deformation, indicating the transition from plastic to thermoplastic elastomer. Through blending with polylactic acid (PLA), the elastic PBAC greatly enhances the impact strength of PLA to 7.5 kJ/m 2 . While the tensile elongation at break is dramatically improved to 161% with the addition of plastic PBAC. The mechanism related to the stereostructure of non-planar ring of PBAC on the properties of PLA is also analyzed. Therefore, this research suggests a particular way to build non-planar ring contained polyesters to modify PLA with high toughness. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 57:1277–1284, 2017. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers