Analysis of plasticization and reprocessing effects on the segmental cooperativity of polylactide by dielectric thermal spectroscopy

Abstract In the present study, the dielectric properties of both neat and plasticized polylactide submitted to repeated extrusion and injection processes to simulate recycling were analysed. The dielectric relaxation spectrum, consisting of β and α relaxation, revealed the relevance of both acryl-PEG based plasticization and thermo-mechanical degradation induced by repeated extrusion and grinding-injection reprocessing cycles on polylactide (PLA). The β-relaxation has its origin in the intramolecular local motions of pendant groups of the PLA backbone, while the α-relaxation is representative of the intermolecular large-scale segmental motions of the PLA backbone. The addition of acryl-PEG …