Elsevier Multiphase Polylactide Blends: Toward a Sustainable and Green Environment

Multiphase Polylactide Blends: Toward a Sustainable and Green Environment guides the reader through fundamentals, science, preparation, and key areas of innovation in polylactide (PLA) blends. Bio-based polymers, and notably PLA, have not only gained increasing interest as a more sustainable alternative but also bring challenges in terms of mechanical, rheological, thermal and physical properties, processability, shapability, and foamability. The use of blends looks to address these, with the development of new types of economically viable and environmentally friendly systems. This is a valuable book for academic researchers, scientists, and graduate students across bio-based polymers, polymer science, chemistry, and materials science, as well as engineers, R&D professionals, and all those in industry with interest in PLA-based blends, biopolymers, and sustainable materials and products. More specifically, the first three chapters of this book overview the fundamentals of thermoplastic polymers, polymer blends, and structure and properties of PLA. These chapters could technically be used as a valuable textbook on the noted topics. The rest of the chapters inclusively study the fundamentals, investigations, and achievements in PLA-based blends with various types of polymers. These include miscible blends of poly L-lactide and poly D-lactide, binary immiscible/miscible blends of PLA with other thermoplastics and elastomers, PLA-based ternary blends and blend nanocomposites, as well as PLA-based blend foams. Overall, this book provides a thorough and critical overview of the state of the art in PLA-based blends, including significant past and recent advances, with the aim of supporting and shaping further research and industrial application of these materials for the development of a green and sustainable future. Review Takes the reader through the fundamentals, preparation, and the state of the art in polymer blends, polylactide (PLA), and inclusively PLA-based blends. From the Back Cover Multiphase Polylactide Blends: Towards a Sustainable and Green Environment guides the reader through fundamentals, science, preparation, and key areas of innovation in polylactide (PLA) blends, with the aim of supporting and shaping further research and industrial application of these materials for sustainable future development. Bio-based polymers, and notably PLA, have gained increasing interest as a more sustainable alternative, but also bring challenges in terms of mechanical and physical properties, processability, and production costs. The use of blends looks to address these, with the development of new types of economically viable and environmentally friendly compatibilizers, which ensure optimum dispersion of dispersed phase and better interfacial adhesion between the phases. Moreover, innovative reactive processing technology and understanding of complex rheology for product development are required. These considerations provide a framework for the book, which provides in-depth coverage of stereocomplex crystals, binary bio-blends with other biopolymers, binary blends with petroleum-based polymers, binary blends with elastomeric polymers, and ternary blends. This is a valuable book for academic researchers, scientists, and advanced students across bio-based polymers, polymer science, chemistry, and materials science, as well as engineers, R&D professionals, and all those in industry with an interest in polylactide-based blends, biopolymers, and sustainable materials and products. About the Author Mohammadreza Nofar, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department at Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. His research focuses are polymer processing and rheology, biopolymers and PLA, polymer nanocomposites, polymer blends, microfibrillated composites, and microcellular polymer foams. He co-authored the Elsevier book 'Polylactide Foams: