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Updated: Oct 22, 2025

Forming Micro-and Nano-Plastics from Agricultural Plastic Films for Employment in Fundamental Research Studies
Published on: July 27, 2022
Effects of Processing Conditions and Plasticizing-Reinforcing Modification on the Crystallization and Physical
Shuo Wang1, Baodong Liu1, Yingying Qin1
1School of Light Industry Science and Engineering, Qilu University of Technology, Jinan 250353, China.
Abstract:
The polylactic acid (PLA) resin Ingeo 4032D was selected as the research object. Epoxy soybean oil (ESO) and zeolite (3A molecular sieve) were used as plasticizer and reinforcing filler, respectively, for PLA blend modification. The mixture was granulated in an extruder and then blown to obtain films under different conditions to determine the optimum processing temperatures and screw rotation. Then, the thermal behaviour, crystallinity, optical transparency, micro phase structure and physical properties of the film were investigated. The results showed that with increasing zeolite content, the crystallization behaviour of PLA changed, and the haze of the film increased from 5% to 40% compared to the pure PLA film. Zeolite and ESO dispersed in the PLA matrix played a role in toughening and strengthening. The PLA/8 wt% zeolite/3 wt% ESO film had the highest longitudinal tensile strength at 77 MPa. The PLA/2 wt% zeolite/3 wt% ESO film had the highest longitudinal elongation at 13%. The physical properties depended heavily on the dispersion of zeolite and ESO in the matrix.
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