Synergistic Effects of Poly(propylene carbonate) Content and Pre-stretching on the Strength, Toughness, and Heat Resistance of Polylactide/Poly(propylene carbonate) Blends

Gao-Fei Zheng; Li-Jing Han; Tian-Yi Ma; Jun-Jia Bian; Jin-Liang Lin; Yan Zhao; Hong-Wei Pan; Ze-Peng Wang; Hui-Liang Zhang

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3565-1

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Synergistic Effects of Poly(propylene carbonate) Content and Pre-stretching on the Strength, Toughness, and Heat Resistance of Polylactide/Poly(propylene carbonate) Blends

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-03-26

- Synergistic Effects of Poly(propylene carbonate) Content and Pre-stretching on the Strength, Toughness, and Heat Resistance of Polylactide/Poly(propylene carbonate) Blends
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Issue 4, Pages: 1142-1153(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Ganzhou Key Laboratory of Ecological Polymer and New Energy Materials, School of Intelligent Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, Gannan University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, China
  b.State Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
  c.School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
- Author bio：
  
  ljhan@ciac.ac.cn (L.J.H.)
  bianjunjia@ciac.ac.cn (J.J.B.)
  hlzhang@ciac.ac.cn (H.L.Z.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3565-1
  CLC：
- Received：29 October 2025，
  
  Accepted：08 January 2026，
  
  Online First：02 March 2026，
  
  Published：05 April 2026
- Accepted：
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Zheng, G. F.; Han, L. J.; Ma, T. Y.; Bian, J. J.; Lin, J. L.; Zhao, Y.; Pan, H. W.; Wang, Z. P.; Zhang, H. L. Synergistic effects of poly(propylene carbonate) content and pre-stretching on the strength, toughness, and heat resistance of polylactide/poly(propylene carbonate) blends. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1142–1153

Gao-Fei Zheng, Li-Jing Han, Tian-Yi Ma, et al. Synergistic Effects of Poly(propylene carbonate) Content and Pre-stretching on the Strength, Toughness, and Heat Resistance of Polylactide/Poly(propylene carbonate) Blends[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(4): 1142-1153.
Zheng, G. F.; Han, L. J.; Ma, T. Y.; Bian, J. J.; Lin, J. L.; Zhao, Y.; Pan, H. W.; Wang, Z. P.; Zhang, H. L. Synergistic effects of poly(propylene carbonate) content and pre-stretching on the strength, toughness, and heat resistance of polylactide/poly(propylene carbonate) blends. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1142–1153 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3565-1.

Gao-Fei Zheng, Li-Jing Han, Tian-Yi Ma, et al. Synergistic Effects of Poly(propylene carbonate) Content and Pre-stretching on the Strength, Toughness, and Heat Resistance of Polylactide/Poly(propylene carbonate) Blends[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(4): 1142-1153. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3565-1.

摘要

The incorporation of poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) and uniaxial pre-stretching exhibited a synergistic effect

significantly enhancing the overall properties of polylactide (PLA) blends. The optimized ps-70/30 blend demonstrated an excellent balance of performance: tensile strength reached 84.5 MPa

elongation at break reached 115.1%

VST was 101.8 °C

and it exhibited good aging resistance.

Abstract

A polylactide (PLA) blend with simultaneous enhancement of strength

toughness

and heat resistance was successfully achieved by adding biodegradable poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) and uniaxial pre-stretching. The effects of the PPC content (0 wt%–50 wt%) on the phase morphology and performance of the blends before and after pre-stretching were systematically investigated. Blending PPC initially reduced the strength

modulus

and heat resistance

but pre-stretching significantly enhanced these properties. In blends containing ≤30 wt% PPC

where PPC formed a well-dispersed island-like phase within the PLA matrix

pre-stretching simultaneously enhanced strength

toughness

and heat resistance. The optimized pre-stretched 7

0/30 PLA/PPC (ps-70/30) blend achieved exceptional performance: tensile strength increased from 66.9 MPa to 84.5 MPa

elongation at break dramatically improved from 6.8% to 115.1%

impact strength reached 55.1 kJ/m

(far exceeding neat PLA’s 3.5 kJ/m

)

and Vicat softening temperature (VST) increased by 60.6% to 101.8 °C. Notably

the ps-70/30 blend retained excellent mechanical properties even after six months of aging. These improvements were attributed to the synergistic effects of the PPC incorporation and pre-stretching. PPC not only promoted the high orientation of the PLA molecular chains but also facilitated the formation of a stable crystalline phase during pre-stretching

thereby enhancing both the mechanical properties and heat resistance. However

when the PPC content exceeded 30 wt%

phase inversion occurred

resulting in a continuous amorphous PPC phase that degraded the overall performance. This study demonstrated that a combination of controlled PPC incorporation and pre-stretching can effectively overcome PLA’s brittleness of PLA while improving its heat resistance

offering a promising strategy for developing high-performance

fully biodegradable PLA materials suitable for industrial applications.

关键词

Keywords

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