2026-04-17T07:41:35Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request
oai:recercat.cat:10256/198752024-10-29T20:29:11Zcom_2072_452955com_2072_2054col_2072_453061
RECERCAT author Ferrer Real, Inés author Manresa Fernàndez, Ariadna author Méndez González, José Alberto author Delgado Aguilar, Marc author Garcia-Romeu, Maria Luisa 2021-07-22 Ultrasonic molding (USM) is a good candidate for studying the plasticization of polymer mixtures or other composite materials due to either the little amount of material needed for processing, low waste or the needed low pressure and residence time of the mold. Thus, the novelty of this research is the capability of USM technology to process PLA/PCL blends and their corresponding neat materials, encompassing all the production stages, from raw material to the final specimen. The major findings of the work revealed that the thermal properties of the blends were not affected by the USM process, although the crystallinity degree experienced variations, decreasing for PLA and increasing for PCL, which was attributed to the crystallization rate of each polymer, the high process speed, the short cooling time and the small particle size. The employed ultrasonic energy increased the molecular weight with low variations through the specimen. However, the degradation results aligned with the expected trend of these material blends. Moreover, this study also showed the effect pellet shape and dimensions have over the process parameters, as well as the effect of the blend composition. It can be concluded that USM is a technology suitable to successfully process PLA/PCL blends with the correct determination of process parameter windowsThis research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, projects FAMMAT (DPI2016-2377156-R) and GREENCOMP (MAT2017-83347-R) Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Plàstics biodegradables Biodegradable plastics Ultrasons -- Aplicacions industrials Ultrasonic waves -- Industrial applications Manufacturing PLA/PCL Blends by Ultrasonic Molding Technology info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion peer-reviewed