• automotive sector
• bioplastics
• cellulose acetate
• Joncryl
• PCL
• PLA
• pla toughening
• polymer blends

The purpose of this thesis was to study and try to improve the impact strength, the heat deflection temperature (HDT), the impact strength and the toughness of polymer blends of PLA and plasticized Cellulose Acetate (AC) prepared with and without the compatibilizer JoncrylVR, in order to evaluate if enhancement of the properties was possible, and aiming to obtain bioplastics materials suitable for the automotive industry. The work carried out was divided into two phases.
The first phase of this work consisted of preparing, extruding, injection moulding and characterizing blends of PLA and AC of various compositions with and without compatibilizer.
The specimens obtained were then characterized by measuring the Melt Flow Rate, using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), conducting the HDT test, Charpy impact strength test and tensile resistance test and using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).
In the second phase of this work, the blends with the most promising results were chosen and the same blends were prepared again with the addition of Polycaprolactone (PCL) aiming to further improve the blends’ ductility. The tests conducted were the same as the ones of the first phase with the addition of a Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis (DMTA).