Effects of l‐aspartic acid and poly(butylene succinate) on thermal stability and mechanical properties of poly(propylene carbonate)

ABSTRACT Poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) was modified by l ‐aspartic acid (Asp) and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS). To assess the effects of Asp and PBS on the thermal stability, mechanical properties of PPC, different PPC/Asp, PPC/PBS, and PPC/PBS/Asp blends were prepared by twin‐screw extruder. The results indicated that the thermal stability improved with the Asp content increasing from 0.5 to 5%. With trace presence of 2% Asp, the degradation temperature of PPC was greatly increased upon extruding and the Yield strength and Young's modulus increased 62 and 849 times, respectively, at 20°C. The flexibility of PPC was effectively improved by blending with PBS, the PBS has no significant effect on the thermal stability of PPC until PBS up to enough amount. Besides the Asp additive in PPC/PBS blends not only improved the thermal stability PPC, but improved the interfacial compatibility of the blend. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133 , 42970.