Mechanical and thermal characteristics of sustainable poly(lactide)/poly(butylene succinate) and poly(lactide)/poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate-co-ethylene succinate-co-ethylene adipate) blends following degradation

Poly (butylene succinate) PBS is considered one of the most interesting biodegradable polymers because of the good compromise of mechanical strength, ductility, toughness, and impact resistance. To change the properties of PBS, modified poly (butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate-co-ethylene succinate-co-ethylene adipate) (PBEAS) was developed. Meanwhile, polylactide (PLA) is one of the commercially used eco-friendly polymers but is limited for commercial applications due to its brittleness and relatively slow hydrolysis. In this study, we explore potential synergistic effects of blending PLA with PBS and PLA with PBEAS, and their properties before and after hydrolytic degradations were investigated as a function of degradation time.