softsimu
PLA-PHB blend and the individual components
Snapshot from an atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of polylactide (PLA) and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) blend. The full simulation time was over a microsecond.
Both PLA and PHB are thermoplastic polymers, and both biodegradable and biocompatible. Why mixtures? Both the polymers have different strengths and weaknesses. By mixing them, one hopes to create better materials. In the this case, materials with better mechanical properties. To be able to do that, the polymers must be miscible.
The simulations show indeed that PLA and PHB are miscible. More interestingly, however, the simulations show the existence of two glass transitions in the blends: 1) at the scale of a few Kuhn lengths and 2) second transition at a longer time scale. Thus, the miscibility of the blends depends on the length scale.
Reference:
Scale-Dependent Miscibility of Polylactide and polyhydroxybutyrate: Molecular Dynamics Simulations, A. Glova, S. Falkovich, S. Dmitrienko, A. Lyulin, S. Larin, V. Nazaraychev, Mikko Karttunen, S. Lyulin, Macromolecules, 51, 552-563 (2018).
PLA-PHB blend and the individual components
Snapshot from an atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of polylactide (PLA) and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) blend. The full simulation time was over a microsecond.
Both PLA and PHB are thermoplastic polymers, and both biodegradable and biocompatible. Why mixtures? Both the polymers have different strengths and weaknesses. By mixing them, one hopes to create better materials. In the this case, materials with better mechanical properties. To be able to do that, the polymers must be miscible.
The simulations show indeed that PLA and PHB are miscible. More interestingly, however, the simulations show the existence of two glass transitions in the blends: 1) at the scale of a few Kuhn lengths and 2) second transition at a longer time scale. Thus, the miscibility of the blends depends on the length scale.
Reference:
Scale-Dependent Miscibility of Polylactide and polyhydroxybutyrate: Molecular Dynamics Simulations, A. Glova, S. Falkovich, S. Dmitrienko, A. Lyulin, S. Larin, V. Nazaraychev, Mikko Karttunen, S. Lyulin, Macromolecules, 51, 552-563 (2018).