Study on thermal properties of melt blend polylactic acid (PLA) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) at different composition for potential application in shape memory polymer.

Polylactic acid (PLA) based shape memory polymer has potential applications in many applications. It attracted research interest in the past five years. However, limited data is available and little is known on the PLA blends, its processing and the shape memory performance. This work attempts to investigate different PLA blends and its properties, with potential as 3D printing filament for producing PLA based shape memory polymer. Blends of a polylactide (PLA) with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) were prepared at a blending ratio of 50/50 and 75/25 wt% in an internal mixer. Then the mixtures were extruded through a single-screw extruder (SSE) at processing temperatures ranging from 150°C to 185°C. A number of testing techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) were performed to characterise the material. The finding shows that the high composition of TPU decreases the energy required to melt the material. The tested material's glass transition temperature and melting temperature ranged from 58°C to 61°C and 153°C to 155°C respectively. These parameters are essential to determine the shape memory performance of a material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]