Poly(lactic acid). Группа авторов

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

      Jed Randall, NatureWorks LLC, Minnetonka, Minnesota

      Suprakas Sinha Ray, Centre for Nanostructures and Advanced Materials, DSI‐CSIR Nanotechnology Innovation Centre, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, Gauteng, Republic of South Africa; Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

      Nanjaporn Roungpaisan, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, Pathumthani, Thailand

      Sangeeta Sahu, Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Tehsil Dadri, India

      Mohini Sain, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

      Wataru Sakai, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering Matsugasaki, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Sakyo‐ku, Kyoto, Japan

      Hayati Samsudin, Food Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

      Susan E. M. Selke, School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

      Olav Sliekersl, PURAC, Gorinchem, The Netherlands

      Anders Södergård, Laboratory of Polymer Technology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland; Mirka Ltd, Jepua, Finland

      Uruchaya Sonchaeng, School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; Department of Packaging and Materials Technology, Faculty of Agro‐Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand

Herlinda Soto‐Valdez, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo (CIAD), Hermosillo, Sonora, México

      Mikael Stolt, Laboratory of Polymer Technology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland; Bayer Oy, Turku, Finland

      Shuko Suzuki, The Queensland Eye Institute, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

      Wataru Takarada, School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

      Midori Takasaki, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto, Japan

      Kohji Tashiro, Department of Future Industry‐oriented Basic Science and Materials, Graduate School of Engineering, Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya, Japan

      Hideto Tsuji, Department of Applied Chemistry and Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan

      Naoto Tsutsumi, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Sakyo, Kyoto, Japan

      Jan Van Krieken, Corbion, The Randstad, Netherlands

      Tim Vanyo, NatureWorks LLC, Minnetonka, Minnesota

      Indra Kumari Varma, Centre for Polymer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India

      Sicco de Vos, Polymer Technology, AC Gorinchem, Gorinchem, The Netherlands

      Hai Wang, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Faculty of Chemical, Environmental and Biological Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, People’s Republic of China

      Ja’Maya Wilson, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

      Takeshi Yamada, Department of Applied Chemistry and Life Science, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Japan

PREFACE

The technological breakthrough at Cargill, Inc. in the early 1990s to produce high‐molecular‐weight PLA via commercially viable lactide ring‐opening polymerization can be considered as the key milestone that paved the way to transform PLA from a specialty material to a commodity thermoplastic (Table P.1). Today, PLA has emerged as one of the mainstream biodegradable polymers that find many applications ranging from biomedical to single‐use food packages.

      Like the first edition, this volume is organized into five parts. In Part I, Chapters 1 and 2 cover various aspects of lactic acid/lactide monomers, including their physicochemical properties and production. Chapter 3 looks at different condensation reactions for the polymerization of PLA. To enhance the properties of PLA, modification involving copolymerization with lactic acid/lactide of different isomers is one of the strategies available today. These topics are presented in Chapter 4. This sets the stage for the discussions in Chapter 5 on fundamentals and technologies related to stereocomplex PLA produced by co‐crystallization of PLLA/PDLA stereoisomers; topics discussed include stereoblock formation, copolymerization, and composite formation. Structures and phase transition behaviors of various crystals for PLA and PLLA/PDLA stereoisomer are reviewed in Chapter 6, along with comparison to related biodegradable polyesters.

      Part II is dedicated to the techniques for material characterization for PLA. This part starts with Chapter 7 that focuses on spectroscopy techniques for PLA analysis, including UV–Vis, Fourier transform infrared, Raman, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 discuss the thermal, rheological, and mechanical properties of PLA, respectively, as affected by factors such as temperature, aging, annealing, molecular stereoregularity, copolymerization, and additive incorporation. Mass transport phenomena of gases and nonvolatile compounds in PLA have important implications on their end‐use performance, especially in packaging applications. Chapters 11 and 12 discuss these topics in great depth.

      Part III is made up of six chapters that are devoted to processing and conversion technologies for PLA. Chapter 13 summarizes the main conversion methodologies for PLA based on melt and solution processing (e.g., extrusion, injection molding, blow molding, thermoforming, fiber spinning). Other conversion techniques are presented in the subsequent chapters, including blending (Chapter 14), foaming (Chapter 15), composites and nanocomposites processing (Chapters 16 and 17). Chapter 18 looks at melt spinning process in greater depth, explicitly dealing with the mechanisms of fiber structure development.

Part IV