EPOXY FUNCTIONAL POLYSTYRENE FOR ENHANCED PLA MISCIBILITY

摘要

Polystyrene blends and methods of making polystyrene blends including combining a styrene monomer and an epoxy-functionalized comonomer to form a combined mixture, subjecting the combined mixture to polymerization to obtain a polystyrene copolymer and combining the polystyrene copolymer with a biodegradable polymer to obtain a polystyrene blend. The biodegradable polymer can be selected from the group of polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxybutyrates (PHB), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polycaprolactone (PCL), polyvinyl alcohol (PV A), and copolymers thereof and combinations thereof. The biodegradable polymer may be present in the blend in amounts ranging from 1 to 20 wt% based on the total weight of the blend.