Preparation and Characterization of Poly (lactic acid) Toughened by SEBS-MAH

Polylatic acid (PLA) is used in biology widely, such as suture, medical carrier and bone immobilizing material. But the toughness of PLA is poor. In this article, we used styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene grafted by maleic anhydride (SEBS-MAH) to improve the toughness of PLA. Mechanical properties of the blends were tested with different SEBS- MAH contents. The tensile strength decreased with the SEBS-MAH contents increasing, but the elongation at break increased significantly. The tensile strength of the blends with SEBS- MAH was higher than the blends with SEBS. Based on the thermogravimetic analysis, we found the degradation temperatures of the blends with SEBS- MAH were higher than the blends with SEES. It means the maleic anhydride improves the interface properties between PLA and SEBS. We also used scanning electron microscope to prove the phenomena.