Sustainable Polylactide-Based Blends

Sustainable Polylactide-Based Blends provides a critical overview of the state-of-the-art in polylactide (PLA)-based blends, addressing the latest advances, innovative processing techniques and fundamental issues that persist in the field. Sections cover the fundamentals of sustainable polymeric materials, polylactide and polymer blends, current and upcoming processing technologies, structure and morphology characterization techniques for PLA and PLA-based blends, and the processing, morphology development, and properties of polylactide-based blends. Final chapters focus on current and future applications, market potential, key challenges and future outlooks.

Throughout the book, theoretical modeling of immiscible polymer blends helps to establish structure-property relationships in various PLA-based polymer blends. With in-depth coverage of fundamentals and processing techniques, the book aims to support the selection of each processing method, along with an understanding of surface chemistry to achieve improved compatibility between phases.

• Explains fundamental aspects of polylactide-based blends, including characterization methods and property measurement techniques
• Offers comprehensive and detailed coverage of processing, morphology and properties, all organized by blend material
• Analyzes novel methods and addresses challenges associated with PLA-based blends, with a focus on applications and market potential

Professor Suprakas Sinha Ray is a Chief Research Scientist and Manager of the Centre for Nanostructures and Advanced Materials, DSI-CSIR Nanotechnology Innovation Centre, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa. He received his PhD degree in Physical Chemistry at the University of Calcutta, India in 2001 and was a recipient of the ''Sir P. C Ray Research Award'' for the best PhD work. Prof. Ray's current research focuses on the applications of advanced nanostructured and polymeric materials. He is one of the most active and highly cited authors in the field of polymer nanocomposite materials, and he has recently been rated by Thomson Reuters as one of the Top 1% most impactful and influential scientists and Top 50 high impact chemists. Prof. Ray is the author of 5 books, co-author of 3 edited books, 32 book chapters on various aspects of polymer-based nanostructured materials and their applications, and author and co-author of 330 articles in high-impact international journals, 30 articles in national and international conference proceedings. He has also established 6 patents, as well as 7 new demonstrated technologies and numerous commercialized products developed with colleagues, collaborators, and industrial partners. He has received several awards and has previously been appointed as Extraordinary Professor, University of Pretoria, and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, University of Johannesburg.