Preparation and molecular dynamics simulation of PLA/PA11 blend.

Blends of entirely biosourced polymers, namely polylactide (PLA) and polyamide11 (PA11), have been prepared by a melt-blending process. Several kinds of PLA/PA11 blends (with different ratio of 0/100, 10/90, 30/70, 50/50, 70/30, 90/10, 100/0) were examined. DMA, XRD, SEM, mechanical Properties testing, FTIR analysis and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to characterize the properties of the PLA/PA11 blends. The DMA analysis and MD simulation results showed that immiscibility prevails in all PLA/PA11 blends. XRD analysis indicated that in the 70/30 PLA/PA11 blends, the PLA component has been crystalized. SEM analysis indicated that there is a distinct interface between the PLA and PA11 in 70/30 PLA/PA11 blend, whose mechanical properties decrease significantly. The binding energy, radial distribution function g(r) obtained from MD simulations results revealed the existence of hydrogen-bonding between PLA and PA11, but the compatibility of PLA/PA11 blends can not be improved by the weak hydrogen bonding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]