Poly (Lactic Acid) Generated for Advanced Materials

Abstract

The consumption of plastic products from petrochemical feedstock has increased sharply resulting in plastic waste problems while raw materials from fossil fuels tend to decrease rapidly. Researchers and the plastic industry have since proposed a sustainable solution through the development of bioplastics. Ideally, bioplastics which are synthesized from renewable bioresources normally render biodegradability in appropriate conditions. Polyester, one of the most diversely used synthetic polymers today, is an ideal choice for biodegradable polymers due to the relative ease of breaking ester linkages. Poly(lactic acid) or polylactide or PLA which is a thermoplastic polyester with many advantageous properties, for instance, environmentally friendly, biocompatibility, processability, and high chemical resistance is now available in the plastic market as a promising bioplastics. However, the cost of PLA is still much higher than that of general commodity plastics. In order to make PLA commercially competitive, advanced and innovative applications should thus be explored. In this chapter, technological background of PLA production as well as its economic situation is firstly reviewed. Then, the enhancement of PLA properties to suit advanced applications is illustrated. Some polymers used for blending with PLA along with some fillers utilized for the production of PLA composites are described. The chapter concludes with the degradation mechanism of PLA and the standard test methods.