PLA/Bio-PE blends: effect of the Bio-PE content on the crystallinity rheological properties

The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of the Bio-PE content on the crystallinity and rheological properties of PLA/Bio-PE blend. The blends containing 05 and 15% of Bio-PE were prepared by extrusion followed by injection molding and characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and rheological properties at low and high shear rates. XRD results indicated that the PLA present low crystallinity and this behavior was not changed with the addition of Bio-PE, regardless of Bio-PE content. Rheological properties results indicated that at low shear rates the viscosity of the PLA/Bio-PE increased with the increase in the Bio-PE content while at high shear rates the viscosities where almost similar, which may be ascribed to the orientation of Bio-PE particles in the flow direction or by the viscous dissipation. (author)