Evaluation of the mechanical properties of Poly(Lactic) Acid/ABS Bio-Blend foams

Foaming is a powerful method that allows lightening of products and reducing the amount of material used. Poly(lactic) acid (PLA) is considered a promising thermoplastic for the replacement of traditional non-biodegradable polymers. In this study, PLA was modified with an epoxide chain extender via reactive extrusion and blended with Acrylonitrile – Butadiene – Styrene (ABS) in the presence of a compatibilizer. The MuCell® process was applied to obtain foams from the previous prepared blends. Results shows that the presence of the epoxide and ABS inhibit the degradation during processing making foaming possible. Under flexural conditions where foamed are designed to work, the mechanical properties of the foamed blends were very similar to the solid counterpartsPostprint (author's final draft