J Polym Eng 2015; aop
Rong-yuan Chen, Wei Zou, Hai-chen Zhang, Gui-zhen Zhang, Zhi-tao Yang and Jin-ping Qu*
Poly(lactic acid)/polypropylene and compatibilized
poly(lactic acid)/polypropylene blends prepared
by a vane extruder: analysis of the mechanical
properties, morphology and thermal behavior
Abstract: Poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/polypropylene (PP)
blends with different weight fractions were prepared by a
novel vane extruder. The mechanical properties, morphol-
ogy, crystallization behavior and thermal stability of the
blends were investigated. The tensile strength, flexural
strength and elongation at break decreased nonlinearly
when the PP content was not more than 50 wt% and then
increased with an increase in the PP content. The flexural
modulus decreased with increasing PP weight fraction.
The PLA/PP 90:10 blend exhibited the optimum impact
strength. Scanning electron microscopy measurements
revealed that the PLA/PP blends were immiscible. Phase
separation occurred significantly at a blend ratio of 50:50.
Regarding the PLA/PP 90:10 blend, the mean diameter
of the disperse-phase PP particles was the smallest at
1.11 μm. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements
showed that low content of PP enhanced the crystalliza-
tion of PLA. The PLA component in the blends impeded
the crystallization of PP when PP was used as the matrix.
The thermogravimetric analysis measurement involved
a two-step decomposition process of the blends. The
thermal resistance of the blends was improved by com-
pounding with PP. As compatibilizers, both the maleic
anhydride-grafted PP and the ethylene/n-butyl acrylate/
glycidyl methacrylate terpolymer helped improve the
mechanical properties, crystallization property and ther-
mal resistance of the PLA/PP blends.
Keywords: compatibilizer; poly(lactic acid); polypropyl-
ene; properties; vane extruder.
*Corresponding author: Jin-ping Qu, National Engineering
Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, The
Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering of Ministry
of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou
510640, China, e-mail: jpqu@scut.edu.cn
Rong-yuan Chen, Wei Zou, Hai-chen Zhang, Gui-zhen Zhang and
Zhi-tao Yang: National Engineering Research Center of Novel
Equipment for Polymer Processing, The Key Laboratory of Polymer
Processing Engineering of Ministry of Education, South China
University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
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DOI 10.1515/polyeng-2014-0312
Received October 21, 2014; accepted January 25, 2015
1 Introduction
The excessive consumption of petroleum resources and
the increased environmental awareness have contributed
to the extensive research on the development of biode-
gradable polymers and composites [1, 2]. Various biode-
gradable polymers, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) [3–5],
poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) [6], poly(butylene succinate)
(PBS) [7] and poly(butylene adipate-coterephthalate)
(PBAT) [8], were widely investigated and applied in many
fields. Especially, PLA, a linear aliphatic thermoplastic
polyester with good biocompatibility and excellent tensile
strength, can be prepared from starch by fermentation and
is one of the potential biopolymers to replace petroleum-
based synthetic polymers [9–12]. However, the rather high
price, low crystallization rate, low deformation at break
and low toughness of PLA in comparison to petroleum-
based thermoplastics limit its applications [13–15].
In order to improve the properties of PLA, several
modifications, such as copolymerization, plasticization
and polymer blending, have been proposed in many
investigations. Blending PLA with other flexible and
biodegradable polymers, such as PBS, PCL and PBAT,
is a practical method to improve the toughness of PLA.
Shibata et  al. [16] studied PLA/PBS blends and found
that their elongation at break and brittleness improved
with the addition of PBS. Todo et  al. [17] investigated
PLA/PCL blends and found that their fracture energy was
much greater than that of neat PLA, and they also found
that when increasing the PCL content, a phase separa-
tion in the PLA/PCL blend occurred and suppressed the
toughness improvement of the blend. Teamsinsungvon
et  al. [18] studied PLA/PBAT blends and found that,
with the increase in the PBAT content, the elongation at
break and impact strength of the blends increased but
2      R. Chen et al.: Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal behavior of PLA/PP blends
the tensile strength and modulus decreased. Besides
the biodegradable polymers, thermoplastic polyolefin
has also been extensively used as a toughening agent in
numerous polymer blending systems, such as polypro-
pylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and nylon. Reddy et  al.
[19] studied PLA/PP polyblend fibers and found that the
two polymers showed partial compatibility and that the
mechanical properties of the blends were inferior com-
pared to those of pure PLA or PP fibers. The PLA in the
blends, however, had substantially better resistance
to biodegradation and hydrolysis [19]. Anderson and
Hillmyer [20] investigated PLLA/PE blends and found
that the impact properties of the composites were highly
dependent on the dispersed-phase properties. Wang
et  al. [21] studied polyamide 6 (PA6)/PLA/maleic anhy-
dride-grafted poly (orthoester) (POE-g-MAH) blends and
found that they were an effective compatibilizer for PA6/
PLA, which improved the impact strength of the blends
significantly. Except for biocompatibility and biodegra-
dability, thermoplastic polyolefin is more preponderant
in many aspects, such as cost, mechanical properties and
processibility, compared with many other biodegradable
polymers in modifying PLA.
Polypropylene, one of the most successful thermo-
plastic polymers with excellent cost-to-performance
ratio, has been widely used in many fields, such as
packaging, housewares and electronics [22]. Due to the
excellent performance and low cost of PP, and the similar
processing temperature and application fields of PP to
PLA, some investigators began to study PLA/PP blends.
Hamad et al. [23] studied the rheological and mechanical
properties of PLA/PP blends prepared by a laboratory-
scale single-screw extruder. Choudhary et al. [24] used a
batch mixer for blending PLA with PP; the mechanical,
thermal and morphological properties of the resulting
blends were then characterized. Some other researchers
used intumescent flame retardants [22], bamboo fiber
[25], ethylene-propylene-diene rubber [26] and wood
fiber [27] as fillers for PLA/PP blends and prepared for
composites and investigated the properties of the com-
posites. However, few researchers studied PLA/PP blends
comprehensively based on the closely related mechani-
cal properties, phase morphology and thermal proper-
ties. There are still many properties, especially the effect
of compatibility between PLA and PP on the mechanical,
thermal and morphological properties of PLA/PP blends,
that need to be investigated.
In this study, PLA was blended with PP using a novel
vane extruder based on an elongation force field with
better mixing effect [28, 29] and the mechanical proper-
ties, morphologies, crystallization behavior and thermal
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stability of the blends were investigated. Furthermore,
the compatibilizers, maleic anhydride-grafted PP (MAPP)
and ethylene/n-butyl acrylate/glycidyl methacrylate ter-
polymer (PTW), were applied to improve the compatibil-
ity between PLA and PP in the blends. The mechanical
properties, morphologies, crystallization behavior and
thermal stability of the PLA/PP/compatibilizer blends
were also investigated.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Materials
Poly(lactic acid) pellets (PLA 4032D, specific gravity 1.25
g/cm3) were supplied by Nature Works LLC (USA). Polypro-
pylene pellets [PP N-Z30S, specific gravity 0.9 g/cm3, melt
flow index (MFI) ca. 25 g/10 min (190°C/2.16 kg)] were sup-
plied by China Petroleum & Chemical Co. (China). Maleic
anhydride-grafted PP (MAPP Fusabond P353, specific
gravity 0.904 g/cm3, ca. 1.8 wt% maleic anhydride) was
supplied by DuPont Co. (USA). Ethylene/n-butyl acrylate/
glycidyl methacrylate terpolymer pellets [Elvaloy PTW,
designated as “EBA-GMA”, MFI ca. 12 g/10 min (190°C/2.16
kg), E/BA/GMA monomer ratio 66.75:28:5.25 by weight]
were supplied by DuPont Co.
2.2 Preparation of the PLA/PP blends and
PLA/PP/compatibilizer blends
PLA, PP, MAPP and PTW were dried at 50°C in a vacuum
oven for 12  h to remove moisture before use. Blending
of PLA and PP at different ratios (PLA/PP, 90:10, 70:30,
50:50, 30:70 and 10:90) was performed using a vane
extruder (self-design, see Figure 1) at 170°C, 175°C, 180°C
and 180°C from hopper to die; the extrusion speed was
set at 60 rpm. With the same processing method, 2, 5
and 8 wt% of the compatibilizers (MAPP and PTW) were
added to the PLA/PP granule blend with a 50:50 ratio to
prepare the PLA/PP/MAPP and PLA/PP/PTW-compati-
bilized blends. Then the extruded blends were pelletized
and dried in a vacuum oven at 50° for 8 h. Subsequently,
the dried blend pellets were compressed into blend
sheets with thicknesses of 1 and 4 mm using a compres-
sion molding machine (QBL-350, Wuxi No. 1 Rubber &
Plastics Mechanical Co. Ltd., China). The compression
molding temperature and pressure were 190°C and 15
MPa, respectively. Dumbbell-shaped specimens (width 4
mm × thickness 1 mm × length of parallel part 25 mm × total
 R. Chen et al.: Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal behavior of PLA/PP blends      3
Hopper Stator Heater Vane
A A-A
A Rotor
VPCU
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the vane extruder.
length 75 mm, according to the GB/T 16421-1996 standard
for type II dumbbell-shaped specimens) for the tensile
test and rectangular specimens (length 80 mm × width
10 mm × thickness 4 mm) for the flexural and impact tests
were prepared from the blend sheets with thicknesses of
1 and 4 mm, respectively.
The vane extruder used in this work was a novel
equipment without a screw, which was invented by Qu
[30] for polymer processing. The schematic diagram of
the vane extruder is shown in Figure 1. The vane extruder
is composed of a multi-vane plasticizing and convey-
ing unit (VPCU). In a VPCU, the stator, rotor, four vanes
and baffles make up the chamber with a certain shape.
The chamber changes from large to small, which is peri-
odically attributed to a certain eccentricity between the
centers of the stator and rotor. Polymer materials are fed
into the chamber when the volume is large, then ground
and compacted. Subsequently, the polymer materials melt
and are discharged from the die, completing a plasticiz-
ing and positive displacement conveying process based
on elongational rheology in a short thermo-mechanical
history [31].
2.3 Characterization
2.3.1 Mechanical properties
The tensile and flexural properties of the PLA/PP, PLA/
PP/MAPP and PLA/PP/PTW blends were evaluated
using an Instron Universal Testing Machine (model
5566, USA). The crosshead speed of the tensile test
was 2 mm/min according to the GB/T 1040.2 standard
(2006), and the crosshead speed of the flexural test was
2 mm/min according to the GB/T 1449 standard (2005).
Impact tests were conducted using an Izod impact tester
(Zwick5117, Zwick GmbH, Ulmer, Germany) according
to the GB/T 1843 standard (2008). All of the data were
the average from six determinations. All tests were per-
formed at room temperature.
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Baffle Rotor Die Extrudate
Vane Stator
2.3.2 Scanning electron microscopy
The extruded blends of PLA/PP, PLA/PP/MAPP and PLA/
PP/PTW were fractured in liquid nitrogen to obtain unaf-
fected fractured surfaces. The fractured surfaces of the
samples were then sprayed with gold powder to prepare
for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation by a
SEM equipment (S-3700N, Hitachi, Japan).
2.3.3 Differential scanning calorimetry
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements
were performed using the Netzsch DSC204 instrument
(Germany) in a nitrogen atmosphere. Blend samples of
6–10 mg were subjected to the whole DSC protocols, wherein
the samples were heated to 200°C at a rate of 10°C/min,
held at that temperature for 5 min and then cooled to 0°C at
a rate of 10°C/min. The crystallization temperature (Tc) was
obtained from the cooling process. The degree of crystallin-
ity (χc) was calculated using the following equation:
ΔH
χc = × 100 (1)
ΔH × wt%
0
c
where ΔH is the enthalpy of crystallization, ΔH c0 is the
theoretical heat of fusion for a fully crystalline PP and
“wt%” represents the PP weight fraction in the case of the
PLA/PP blends. From the literature, an enthalpy of fusion
of 209.00  J/g for PP was used for the 100% crystalline
material [32].
2.3.4 Thermogravimetric analysis
The thermal stability of pure PLA, pure PP, PLA/PP, PLA/
PP/MAPP and PLA/PP/PTW blends was studied by using a
Netzsch TG209 thermogravimetric analyzer. The weight of
the samples used was approximately 10.0 mg, which were
heated from 30°C to 600°C at a rate of 10°C/min. Nitrogen
gas was used to protect the samples from being oxidized.
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3 Results and discussion

3.1 Mechanical properties analysis

Figure 2 shows the curves of the tensile strength and

elongation at break during the tensile tests of the PLA/
PP blends with various blend weight ratios. It can be seen
that the tensile strength of the blend decreased sharply
when the PP content was not more than 50 wt% and then
increased with an increase in the PP content. This indicates
that both the addition of PP to PLA and the addition of PLA
to PP reduced the tensile strength of the blends in the given
content range. The result may be attributed to the poor
interfacial interaction between the incompatible blends of
PLA/PP. For the elongation at break of the PLA/PP blends, it
decreased slightly when the PP content was not more than
50 wt% and then increased obviously with an increase in
the PP content. The result indicates that the influence of
high PP content (more than 50 wt%) on the ductility of PLA
was significant. Similar results about the change in tensile
strength and elongation at break of the PLA/PP blends with
various weight ratios were found by Hamad et  al. [23] in
their study of the rheological and mechanical properties of
PLA/PP blends prepared by a laboratory-scale single-screw
extruder. They also found that the PLA/PP 50:50 blend
almost showed the worst performance over the range of
weight ratios. The result indicated that the PLA/PP blend
was the typical immiscible polymer blend, as found in our
research.
The dependence of the flexural strength and modulus
of the PLA/PP blends on the PLA/PP weight ratios is
shown in Figure 3. It can be seen that the flexural strength
decreased sharply when the PP content was not more than
Figure 3: Flexural strength and modulus curves of the PLA/PP blends.
50 wt% and then increased slightly with an increase in the
PP content. Regarding the PLA/PP 30:70–10:90 blends,
the flexural strength was lower than that of pure PP, which
is mainly attributed to the poor compatibility between the
two phases of PLA and PP. For the flexural modulus, it
decreased nonlinearly with an increase in the PP content.
Since the stiffness of PP was much lower than that of PLA
resin, the flexural load would be undertaken by the PLA
phase, leading to a reduction in the flexural modulus of
the PLA/PP blends. Consequently, the flexural modulus of
the PLA/PP blends decreased with an increase in the PP
weight fraction.
Figure 4 illustrates the correlation between the
impact strength and the PLA/PP weight ratios of the
PLA/PP blends. It can be seen that the impact strength
increased obviously with a PP weight fraction of 10 wt%.
Then the impact strength decreased dramatically when
the PP content was not more than 70 wt% and then

Figure 2: Tensile strength and elongation at break curves of the

PLA/PP blends. Figure 4: Impact strength curve of the PLA/PP blends.

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 R. Chen et al.: Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal behavior of PLA/PP blends      5

increased slightly with an increase in the PP content.
Regarding the blend PLA/PP 90:10, the improved impact
strength may be attributed to the approximately uniform
distribution of PP particles in the PLA continuous phase.
However, the reduction of the impact strength may due
to the immiscible characteristics between the component
polymers (PLA and PP), with a big difference in solubility
parameters [24], such that the blends could not absorb
and transfer the impact energy efficiently. As a result, the
toughening effect of the PP particles on the PLA blends
was significant in the case of low concentration of the PP
particles.
The PLA/PP 50:50 blend shows poor comprehensive
mechanical properties as a result of the poor compatibility
between PLA and PP. Two kinds of compatibilizers (MAPP
and PTW) were used in this work to improve the mechanical
properties of the blend. Table 1 shows the effect of the com-
patibilizers (MAPP and PTW) on the mechanical properties
of the PLA/PP 50:50 blend. It can be seen from Table 1 that
the addition of both MAPP and PTW can improve the tensile
strength of the blend significantly. Regarding the PLA/PP/
MAPP blends, the elongation at break decreased and the
flexural strength increased compared with those of the
blend PLA/PP 50:50. However, the compounding of MAPP
to the PLA/PP 50:50 blend had a slight influence on the flex-
ural modulus and impact strength of the blend. The effect
of MAPP on the mechanical properties of the PLA/PP blend
was also investigated by Yoo et  al. [33] in their research.
They added MAPP (1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 phr) to the blend PLA/PP
80:20 to improve the compatibility of the blend and studied
the properties of the PLA/PP/MAPP blend. They found that
the tensile strength of the blend showed the maximum at a
content of 3 phr. The excess MAPP did not provide a distinct
improvement to the tensile strength of the blend. They also
found that the impact strength of the PP/PLA blends did not
change significantly with the increase in the MAPP content.
The results were consistent with the results in this work.
Regarding the PLA/PP/PTW blends, the elongation at break
increased and the flexural strength and flexural modulus
decreased compared with those of the blend PLA/PP 50:50.
Similar to the influence of MAPP on the impact strength of
the PLA/PP 50:50 blend, the PTW had a slight influence on
the impact strength of the blend. The results indicate that
both the MAPP and the PTW can improve the compatibility
between PLA and PP, which helps improve some facets of
the mechanical properties of the PLA/PP blend.
3.2 Morphology analysis
Figure 5 shows SEM micrographs of PLA/PP blends with
different weight fractions. It can be observed clearly that
there was a phase separation between the PLA phase and
the PP phase. The micrographs reveal a distinct two-phase
morphology, with the PP phase dispersed evenly within
the PLA matrix when the PP content was not more than
50 wt% and the PLA phase dispersed evenly within the
PP matrix when the PP content exceeded 50 wt%. With
an increase in the PP weight fraction, the phenomenon of
droplet coalescence and phase inversion can be observed.
Figure 5F shows the change in mean diameter of the dis-
perse phase particles in the PLA/PP blends vs. the various
PLA/PP weight ratios. When the PP content is 10 wt% in
the blend, the mean diameter of the disperse-phase PP
particles is 1.11 μm, which is the lowest in the given PP
content range. The morphology of the blend PLA/PP 90:10
was also investigated by Choudhary et  al. [24] in their
research. They prepared the PLA/PP blends using a batch
mixer. The mean diameter of the disperse-phase PP par-
ticles in their research was much larger than that in this
work. Moreover, the dispersion of the PP particles in this
work was also much better. The reason for this maybe that

Table 1: Effect of the compatibilizers (MAPP and PTW) on the mechanical properties of the PLA/PP 50/50 blend.

Composition   Tensile  Elongation  Flexural  Flexural  Impact

(wt/wt/wt) strength at break strength modulus strength
(MPa) (%) (MPa) (MPa) (KJ/m2)

PLA/PP (50:50)  12.9±0.4  6.8±1.0  30.9±1.5  2413±136  1.09±0.20

PLA/PP/MAPP          
50:50:2   14.9±0.9  5.4±0.1  36.2±0.4  2126±135  1.15±0.19
50:50:5   15.1±0.5  4.7±0.3  38.1±1.1  2497±48  1.04±0.13
50:50:8   14.4±0.9  5.1±0.2  36.5±1.1  2260±96  0.82±0.03
PLA/PP/PTW          
50:50:2   17.9±0.8  6.6±0.2  30.6±1.2  1810±38  1.57±0.07
50:50:5   17.3±0.5  6.5±0.5  26.9±1.0  1516±61  1.07±0.08
50:50:8   15.9±0.6  6.8±0.3  28.9±0.5  1488±54  1.50±0.11

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6      R. Chen et al.: Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal behavior of PLA/PP blends

Figure 5: Scanning electron micrographs of the PLA/PP blends with different weight fractions (A, 90:10; B, 70:30; C, 50:50; D, 30:70; E,
10:90); (F) mean diameter of the disperse-phase particles in the PLA/PP blends.

the processing device in this work, i.e., the vane extruder,
has a good dispersion mixing effect on the polymer blends,
which, as a result, improved the dispersion of the disperse
phase in the PLA/PP blends and reduced the diameter of
the disperse-phase particles. When the PP content was
50 wt% in the blend, a distinct phase separation occurred
as the disperse-phase particles became aspheric and some
of them merged to create bigger droplets. This was mainly
attributed to the poor compatibility between PLA and PP.
When the PP content exceeded 50 wt%, it appears that,
when it was used as the matrix for the blends, phase inver-
sion occurred at the same time. The mean diameter of the
disperse-phase PLA particles in the PP matrix decreased
with an increase in the PP content. Moreover, it can be
seen from Figure 5A and B, when PLA was used as the
matrix, that the mean diameter of the PP particles is much
smaller at low PP content (at 10 wt%) than that at high
PP content (at 30 wt%), and the distribution of the parti-
cles in the blends was much more uniform with a low PP
content. For the blends with PP as the matrix, the distri-
bution of the PLA particles in the blends was much more
uniform with a low PLA content (see Figure 5D and E).
From Figure 5, it can also be seen that the dispersibility of
the PP droplets in the PLA/PP blends (90:10 and 70:30) is
better than that of the PLA droplets in the PLA/PP blends
(10:90 and 30:70); this may be attributed to the viscosity
ratio of the PLA/PP blend components as well as to the
flexibility of the polymer chains.
Figure 6 shows scanning electron micrographs of
the PLA/PP 50:50 blend, MAPP-compatibilized PLA/

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 R. Chen et al.: Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal behavior of PLA/PP blends      7

Figure 6: Scanning electron micrographs of the PLA/PP, PLA/PP/MAPP and PLA/PP/PTW blends (A, PLA/PP 50:50; B–D, PLA/PP/MAPP
50:50:2, 5, 8; E–G, PLA/PP/PTW 50:50:2, 5, 8).

PP/MAPP blends and PTW-compatibilized PLA/PP/
PTW blends. It can be observed from Figure 6B–D that
the compatibility between PLA and PP improved signifi-
cantly with an increase in the MAPP content. Compared
with the PLA/PP 50:50 blend (Figure 6A), the phase
separation phenomenon can also be observed in Figure
6B–D. The addition of 2 wt% MAPP to the blend allowed
many smaller particles to be formed and covered by the
matrix pillar (PLA) in the blend (see Figure 6B). With
an increase in the MAPP content, many more particles

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8      R. Chen et al.: Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal behavior of PLA/PP blends

were formed in the blend and the dimension of the parti-

cles became smaller and the distribution of the particles
became more uniform (see Figure 6C and D). For the PLA/
PP 50:50 blend compounded with PTW, the phase sepa-
ration phenomenon was also observed, as can be seen in
Figure 6E–G. When 2 wt% PTW was added to the blend,
many particles merged to create bigger irregular parti-
cles. The phase morphology looks like the co-continuous
phase structure in Figure 6E. When 5 wt% PTW was added
to the blend, the phase morphology is similar to that in
Figure 6E, but the amount of the particles is significantly
increased in Figure 6F. When 8 wt% PTW was added to the
blend, the big irregular particles formed in Figure 6E and
F were broken into many small particles in Figure 6G. This
indicates that the compatibility between PLA and PP was
improved. The results show that the addition of 8 wt% Figure 8: DSC crystallization thermograms of the PLA/PP/MAPP
MAPP or PTW allowed the particles in the PLA/PP 50:50 blends with different MAPP contents.
blend to break into smaller particles and the distribu-
tion of the particles became more uniform, which helped
improve the compatibility between PLA and PP.

3.3 Crystallization behavior analysis

DSC cooling thermograms, illustrating the crystallization

behaviors of PLA, PP, PLA/PP and compatibilized PLA/PP
blends, are depicted in Figures 7–9. The DSC data obtained
from the thermograms are collected in Table 2. It can be
seen from Figure 7 that the thermogram of pure PLA shows
no crystallization peak under the cooling rate of 10°C/min.
This indicates that the crystallization rate of PLA is very
low; it was too fast for PLA to crystallize at a cooling rate

Figure 9: DSC crystallization thermograms of the PLA/PP/PTW

blends with different PTW contents.

of 10°C/min. When PLA was compounded with 10 wt%

Figure 7: DSC crystallization thermograms of the pure PLA, PP and
PLA/PP blends.
PP, two weak crystallization peaks around 78 and 94°C
emerged, with the low temperature peak corresponding to
the crystallization peak of PLA and the high temperature
peak corresponding to the crystallization peak of PP. This
illustrates that the addition of PP enhanced the crystal-
lization of PLA. With more PP compounded in the blend,
regarding the PLA/PP 70:30 blend, the crystallization
peak corresponding to PLA became weaker and shifted
to a higher temperature around 80°C and the crystalliza-
tion peak corresponding to PP became stronger and also
shifted to a higher temperature around 99°C. The result
indicates that too much PP in the blend will impede the

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 R. Chen et al.: Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal behavior of PLA/PP blends      9

Table 2: DSC data of the PLA/PP, PLA/PP/MAPP and PLA/PP/PTW but it increased the ΔHc and χc of the PP component in the
blends. blends. This result shows that the addition of PTW also
improved the crystallization properties of the PLA/PP
Composition   Tc (°C)  ΔHc (J/g)  χc (%)
50:50 blend. But the effect of PTW is weaker than that of
PLA/PP       MAPP on improving the crystallization properties of the
 100:0   –  0  0 blends. The reason for this may be that the MAPP com-
 90:10   93.8  –  –
patibilizer with the PP component is better than PTW
 70:30   99.4  –  –
 50:50   116.1  21.3  20.4 in improving the compatibility of PLA and PP. In addi-
 30:70   118.0  68.3  46.7 tion, it can be seen from Table 2 that, in the given PTW
 10:90   119.5  88.5  47.1 content range, the χc of the PP component in the PLA/PP/
 0:100   120.1  113.0  54.1 PTW blends obtained the optimum value when the PTW
PLA/PP/MAPP     
content was 5 wt%.
 50:50:2   120.7  47.3  46.2
 50:50:5   120.3  48.3  48.6
 50:50:8   119.5  53.6  55.4
PLA/PP/PTW      
 50:50:2   115.5  45.8  44.7
3.4 Thermal stability analysis
 50:50:5   115.5  47.7  48.0
 50:50:8   116.2  38.7  40.0 The thermal stability of the PLA/PP blends with dif-
ferent weight fractions and the compatibilized PLA/
PP 50:50 blends with different compatibilizer contents
were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).
crystallization of PLA. Regarding the PLA/PP 50:50, 30:70
Figures  10–12 show the curves of the blends. TG data
and 10:90 blends, the thermograms showed only one crys-
obtained from the thermograms of the blends such as the
tallization peak of PP. In these blends, PLA did not crystal-
temperature at 5 wt% loss (T5%), temperature at 50 wt%
lize during the cooling process. Moreover, it can be seen
loss (T50%), temperature at maximum decomposition rate
from Table 2 that the Tc, ΔHc and χc of PP component in
(Tmax) and ending decomposition temperature (Te) are
the PLA/PP blends increased with an increase in the PP
collected in Table 3. As evident from Table 3, PP is ther-
weight fraction when the PP content exceeded 50 wt%.
mally more stable than PLA. The T5% of PLA was 334.3°C,
The result indicates that the PLA component in the blends
whereas that of PP started to degrade at 418.8°C. The
impedes the crystallization of PP when PP is used as the
incorporation of 10 wt% of PP resulted in the increase in
matrix.
the T5%, T50%, Tmax and Te of the PLA/PP 90:10 blend. The
Figure 8 shows the cooling thermograms of the PLA/
T5% of the PLA/PP blends increased with an increase in the
PP/MAPP blends. It can be seen that the crystallization
PP content except for the PLA/PP 50:50 blend. This may
behavior of the PLA/PP 50:50 blend has a distinct change
due to the PLA/PP 50:50 blend having a poor distribution
when compounded with MAPP. The DSC data are shown
in Table 2. Compared with the blend without MAPP, the
Tc, ΔHc and χc of the PP component in the PLA/PP/MAPP
blends increased obviously, which indicates that the crys-
tallization properties of the blends improved. This result
may due to the influence of MAPP in improving the com-
patibility of PLA and PP. In the given MAPP content range,
the χc of the PP component in the blends increased with an
increase in the MAPP content. However, the MAPP content
has an insignificant influence on the crystallization tem-
perature in the given MAPP content range.
The cooling thermograms of the PLA/PP/PTW blends
are shown in Figure 9. Similar to the influence of MAPP
on the χc of the PP component in the PLA/PP 50:50 blend,
adding PTW to the blend also increased the χc of the PP
component in the blend significantly. The DSC data are
shown in Table 2. It can be seen that the addition of PTW
had an insignificant effect on the Tc of the PP component, Figure 10: Thermogravimetric (TG) curves of the PLA/PP blends.

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10      R. Chen et al.: Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal behavior of PLA/PP blends
Figure 11: Thermogravimetric (TG) curves of the PLA/PP/MAPP
blends.
Figure 12: Thermogravimetric (TG) curves of the PLA/PP/PTW
blends.
of the particles and an obvious phase separation mor-
phology. The T50% and Tmax of the blends increased signifi-
cantly when the PP content exceeded 50 wt%. This may
due to the phase inversion of the blends, wherein PP was
used increasingly as the matrix. More interestingly, the
Te of the PLA/PP 90:10 blend had the maximum value,
which was higher than those of other PLA/PP blends and
pure PP. This result may be due to the good dispersion of
the PP particles in the PLA/PP 90:10 blend, which can
be observed from the SEM photo (see Figure 5A). More-
over, regarding the PLA/PP 90:10 –10:90 blends, a two-
step decomposition process occurred due to the different
thermal resistance of PLA and PP, where the first decom-
position step, between 300°C and 390°C, corresponded
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Table 3: TG data of the PLA/PP, PLA/PP/MAPP and PLA/PP/PTW
blends.
Composition   T5% (°C)  T50% (°C)  Tmax (°C)  Te (°C)
PLA/PP        
 100:0   334.3  370.7  376.7  389.0
 90:10   343.8  374.3  378.4  489.7
 70:30   345.4  378.0  376.1  484.0
 50:50   343.6  386.6  374.7  483.0
 30:70   345.8  453.7  467.7  479.3
 10:90   355.6  461.5  468.8  481.5
 0:100   418.8  465.0  473.1  481.9
PLA/PP/MAPP       
 50:50:2   350.4  386.8  373.0  475.1
 50:50:5   349.4  383.9  373.6  474.9
 50:50:8   350.0  389.2  372.4  481.1
PLA/PP/PTW        
 50:50:2   331.3  392.7  370.1  477.6
 50:50:5   336.7  418.9  370.8  472.9
 50:50:8   339.4  431.1  370.9  478.5
to the decomposition process of PLA and the second
decomposition step corresponded to the decomposition
of PP. The result indicates that the compatibility between
PLA and PP is poor, which is consistent with the results
of morphological observation. Furthermore, the addition
of PP to PLA may have also improved the resistance to
degradation of the blends in the natural environment.
The reason for this is that PP is a polyolefin material,
which has higher resistance to microorganisms than PLA
in the natural environment; as a result, the PP phase in
the PLA matrix can protect PLA from degradation [19].
The thermal stability of the compatibilized PLA/PP/
MAPP and PLA/PP/PTW blends with different contents
of MAPP and PTW was also investigated. It can be seen
from Figures 11 and 12 that the two-step decomposition
process occurred in all the compatibilized PLA/PP 50:50
blends. The incorporation of MAPP obviously increased
the T5% of the compatibilized blends. The T50% of the com-
patibilized blends changed insignificantly; the Tmax and
Te decreased compared with those of the PLA/PP 50:50
blend. This indicates that the addition of MAPP to the
blend can improve the onset temperature of thermal deg-
radation, which can improve the temperature of the blend
in actual use. Regarding the PLA/PP/PTW blends, it can
be seen from Figure 12 and Table 3 that the incorporation
of PTW increased the T50% of the blend significantly. The
T5%, Tmax and Te of the blends decreased compared with
those of the PLA/PP 50:50 blend. The results indicate
that the PTW-compatibilized PLA/PP blends degraded at
a lower temperature compared with the PLA/PP blend,
but after a 50% weight loss, the degrade temperature
 R. Chen et al.: Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal behavior of PLA/PP blends      11
had a distinct improvement. The TGA results show that
the MAPP and PTW helped improve the thermal stabil-
ity of the PLA/PP 50:50 blend at different degradation
periods.
4 Conclusions
PLA/PP blends with various weight fractions, PLA/PP/
MAPP blends with different MAPP contents and PLA/
PP/PTW blends with different PTW contents were suc-
cessfully prepared with the melt-blending technique
using a novel vane extruder. The mechanical proper-
ties, morphology, crystallization behavior and thermal
stability of the blends were investigated. It was found
that the tensile strength, flexural strength and elonga-
tion at break decreased nonlinearly when the PP content
was not more than 50 wt% and then increased with
an increase in the PP content. The flexural modulus
decreased with increasing PP weight fraction. The PLA/
PP 90:10 blend exhibited the optimum impact strength
compared with the other PLA/PP blends. The addition of
MAPP and PTW to the PLA/PP 50:50 blend improved the
tensile strength of the blends significantly. The elonga-
tion at break and impact strength of the compatibilized
blends changed slightly.
SEM measurements revealed that the PLA/PP blends
were immiscible. Phase separation occurred significantly
at the blend ratio of 50:50. Regarding the PLA/PP 90:10
blend, the mean diameter of the disperse-phase PP parti-
cles was the smallest at 1.11 μm. The dispersibility of the
PP droplets in the PLA/PP blends (90:10 and 70:30) was
better than that of the PLA droplets in the PLA/PP blends
(10:90 and 30:70). The addition of MAPP and PTW to the
PLA/PP 50:50 blend improved the compatibility between
the PLA and the PP. The particles in the compatibilized
blends became smaller, and the distribution of the parti-
cles became more uniform.
The DSC measurement showed that a low content of
PP enhanced the crystallization of PLA. The PLA com-
ponent in the blends, however, impeded the crystalli-
zation of PP when PP was used as the matrix. The TGA
measurement involved a two-step decomposition process
of the blends. The thermal resistance of the blends was
improved by compounding with PP. Both the MAPP and
the PTW helped improve the crystallization property and
the thermal resistance of the PLA/PP blends.
Acknowledgments: The authors wish to acknowledge the
National Natural Science Foundation of China-Guangdong
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Joint Foundation Project (U1201242), the National Research
Foundation for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education
of China (20120172130004), the New Century Excellent
Talents in University (NCET-11-0152), the Pearl River Tal-
ent Fund for Young Sci-Tech Researchers of Guangzhou
City (2011J2200058) and the Young Scientists Fund of the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no.
51403068).
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