Optimized profile extrusion processes for biopolymer blends

In this paper a promising way to improve the material characteristics of virgin PLA for technical applications, e. g. profile extrusion, is described. Thereby PLA is combined with other biopolymers such as cellulose esters and different functional additives to create new biobased blend systems. To verify the improved properties of the new materials several mechanical (tensile test, Charpy impact test), thermal (heat deflection temperature) and dimension accuracy tests have been performed. Furthermore a case study shows that the developed PLA materials are suitable to be processed on standard profile extrusion equipment to produce profiles with a good surface geometrical accuracy and quality.