Effect of PBAT on physical, morphological, and mechanical properties of PBS/PBAT foam

Abstract

This study examines the effect of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) content on the physical, morphological, and mechanical properties of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)/PBAT foam. A compression molding technique was used to prepare the PBS/PBAT foam using the chemical blowing agent azodicarbonamide and the cross-linking agent dicumyl peroxide. The chemical structure and morphological properties of PBS/PBAT foam were examined via Fourier transform infrared and scanning electron microscopy techniques, respectively, whereas tensile and flexural properties were investigated using a universal testing machine. The results reveal that the incorporation of PBAT barely enhances the viscosity of the PBS/PBAT blend, producing only minor changes in the average cell size of PBS/PBAT foam. However, increasing the PBAT content contributes to a relatively significant improvement in the flexibility and toughness of PBS/PBAT foam, where a decrease in Young’s modulus and tensile strength of the PBS/PBAT foam is observed compared with those of the PBS foam. Similar behavior to the tensile results is noticed for the flexural properties of the neat and PBS/PBAT foams.