Post Wouter, Kuijpers Lambertus J, Zijlstra Martin, van der Zee Maarten, Molenveld Karin
Wageningen Food and Biobased Research, Bornse Weilanden 9, 6708 WG Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Polymers (Basel). 2021 Jan 27;13(3):394. doi: 10.3390/polym13030394.
In the successful transition towards a circular materials economy, the implementation of biobased and biodegradable plastics is a major prerequisite. To prevent the accumulation of plastic material in the open environment, plastic products should be both recyclable and biodegradable. Research and development actions in the past few decades have led to the commercial availability of a number of polymers that fulfil both end-of-life routes. However, these biobased and biodegradable polymers typically have mechanical properties that are not on par with the non-biodegradable plastic products they intend to replace. This can be improved using particulate mineral fillers such as talc, calcium carbonate, kaolin, and mica. This study shows that composites thereof with polybutylene succinate (PBS), polyhydroxybutyrate-hexanoate (PHBH), polybutylene succinate adipate (PBSA), and polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) as matrix polymers result in plastic materials with mechanical properties ranging from tough elastic towards strong and rigid. It is demonstrated that the balance between the Young's modulus and the impact resistance for this set of polymer composites is subtle, but a select number of investigated compositions yield a combination of industrially relevant mechanical characteristics. Finally, it is shown that the inclusion of mineral fillers into biodegradable polymers does not negate the microbial disintegration of these polymers, although the nature of the filler does affect the biodegradation rate of the matrix polymer.
在向循环材料经济的成功转型中，生物基和可生物降解塑料的应用是一个主要前提条件。为防止塑料材料在开放环境中积累，塑料制品应兼具可回收性和可生物降解性。过去几十年的研发行动已使多种满足这两种生命周期终点途径的聚合物实现了商业供应。然而，这些生物基和可生物降解聚合物的机械性能通常比不上它们打算替代的不可生物降解塑料制品。使用滑石粉、碳酸钙、高岭土和云母等颗粒状矿物填料可改善这一情况。本研究表明，以聚丁二酸丁二醇酯（PBS）、聚羟基丁酸酯 - 己酸酯（PHBH）、聚丁二酸丁二醇酯 - 己二酸酯（PBSA）和聚对苯二甲酸丁二醇酯 - 己二酸酯（PBAT）为基体聚合物，与这些填料制成的复合材料可得到机械性能从坚韧弹性到坚固刚性不等的塑料材料。结果表明，对于这组聚合物复合材料，杨氏模量和抗冲击性之间的平衡很微妙，但少数研究的组合物产生了一系列具有工业相关性的机械特性组合。最后表明，将矿物填料加入可生物降解聚合物中并不会否定这些聚合物的微生物分解，尽管填料的性质确实会影响基体聚合物的生物降解速率。
