Dynamically vulcanized biobased polylactide/natural rubber blend material with continuous cross-linked rubber phase

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2014 Mar 26;6(6):3811-6. doi: 10.1021/am5004766. Epub 2014 Mar 14.

Abstract

We prepared a biobased material, dynamically vulcanized polylactide (PLA)/natural rubber (NR) blend in which the cross-linked NR phase owned a continuous network-like dispersion. This finding breaks the traditional concept of a sea-island morphology formed after dynamic vulcanization of the blends. The scan electron microscopy and dissolution/swell experiments provided the direct proof of the continuous cross-linked NR phase. This new biobased PLA/NR blend material with the novel structure is reported for the first time in the field of dynamic vulcanization and shows promise for development for various functional applications.