The PLA modifier developed by Koli Japan can improve impact resistance and tensile strength
Recently, Kuraray, Japan, developed a polymer modifier that can improve impact resistance and tensile strength while maintaining biodegradability, which will be used as an additive for polylactic acid. The new products include "D6-A" for improving impact resistance and "S2-A" for improving elongation. Kuraray plans to launch commercial sample promotion for domestic and foreign PLA manufacturers from this year.
Against the background of increasing emphasis on environmental awareness and the concept of sustainable development, the demand for biodegradable plastic PLA with excellent biodegradability is increasing, but PLA still has impact resistance issues such as cracking. Kuraray has developed a resin that can achieve biodegradation and has a modification effect under continuous high temperature conditions. Although the raw material comes from petroleum, it has biodegradability equal to or higher than that of PLA, so it is expected to improve impact resistance without losing the advantages of PLA. The new resin has a high molecular weight, so it can truly absorb impact forces.
In the empirical experiment of impact resistance, when a heavy object falls on the PLA film and is subjected to impact, compared to the film without adding "D6-A", the film with a weight reference of 4% "D6-A" exhibits more than twice the impact resistance. In addition, compared to the film without adding "S2-A", the film with adding 10% "S2-A" increased the elongation by about 10 times.
The newly developed product is a liquid resin, so it can be mixed with PLA particles and used for sheet or injection molding. It has been confirmed that brief heating during the molding process will not lead to biodegradation. Although there is still a problem that the transparency of PLA cannot be maintained after addition, this problem will be solved through technical development in the future, and it is planned to achieve commercialization of the main uses of PLA such as food containers and tableware within 2026. It is expected to start with an annual production capacity of 10 tons and expand to large-scale production of thousands of tons in the future.
