Mechanical properties of PLA/PCL blends crosslinked by electron beam and TAIC additive

Highlights: • Irradiation of PLA/PCL blends containing TAIC causes their effective crosslinking. • The phase separation in PLA/PCL blends disappears as the radiation dose rises. • TAIC is an efficient agent that hinders phase separation. • TAIC links macromolecules of the same or different polymers. Investigation of the effect of electron radiation on selected mechanical properties of polylactide/polycaprolactone blends containing triallyl isocyanurate was the objective of the present paper. It was found that triallyl isocyanurate is an effective agent that hinders phase separation and links macromolecules of both the same and the different polymers. As a consequence of this, strength and modulus of elasticity of studied blends rise, while elongation at break as well as impact strength decrease. Moreover, some mechanical properties of crosslinked polylactide/polycaprolactone blends may also result from the partial degradation of polylactide phase after irradiation.