Farivash Gholamirad - Amirkabir University of Technology, Dep. of Polymer Eng. & Color Tech
Khadije Eslami - Amirkabir University of Technology, Dep. of Polymer Eng. & Color Tech
Narges Elmjamili - Amirkabir University of Technology, Dep. of Polymer Eng. & Color Tech
Hossein Nazokdast - Amirkabir University of Technology, Dep. of Polymer Eng. & Color Tech

The aim of the present work was to study the role of addition of epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) on microstructure of Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) by using rheology and thermal analysis. The samples were prepared by melt mixing in a laboratory by an internal mixer. From the result of melt viscoelastic measurements, it was found that while 6wt% ESO reduced the viscosity and Tg of PLA, the further addition of ESO did not have an appreciable effect on changing viscoelastic behavior and Tg. This result suggested that although ESO acted as plasticizer for PLA up to the 6wt%, the blend with matrix disperse morphology could be given from the samples containing higher ESO fractions

PLA, ESO, Rheology, Plasticizer, DSC