Properties of polylactic acid/gelatin/acetyl tributyl citrate blend materials

Abstract The inherent brittleness and high cost of polylactic acid (PLA) hinder its further application. Developing low‐cost, flexible, and biodegradable gelatin (GEL)‐modified PLA is a way to broaden the application prospects of PLA applications. Acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) was added to overcome the process difficulty of PLA/GEL melt blending and toughening the blends. Maleic anhydride (MAH) grafted PLA (PLA‐g‐MAH) was prepared to improve the compatibility of the PLA/GEL/ATBC. Because of the interface, physical and chemical interaction induced by PLA‐g‐MAH, the compatibility among PLA, GEL, and ATBC was enhanced, which significantly improved the plasticizing efficiency of ATBC. Results showed that the elongation at break of the blends can be improved by 491%, 68 times higher than that of pristine PLA. Moreover, the modified blends did not break under the conditions of notch impact, which exhibited excellent toughness. The blends possessed a high degradation rate owing to the hydrophilic gelatin and PLA‐g‐MAH, significantly accelerated the degradation process of PLA. The prepared PLA/GEL/ATBC/PLA‐g‐MAH biomass blended plastics exhibited good comprehensive performance, with true sustainability and environmental friendliness.