LAUSR

Abstract Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was prepared by incorporating 1.5% wt. of chain extender to control the thermal stability of PLA during processing. PLA films were processed with three-selected residence times: 4, 8 and 16 min. The PLA film with highest molecular weight was processed with a residence time of 8 min; therefore, films processed at those conditions were selected for hydrolysis experiments. Results showed that the addition of the chain extender significantly increased the dynamic moduli of PLA, and the onset decomposition temperature decreased by 1 °C. These results were attributed to the different structures obtained after processing PLA with the chain extender, resulting in long-chain branching. The hydrolytic degradation of PLA films at accelerated conditions was decreased by the presence of the chain extender, reducing the rate constant from 0.206 to 0.065 h−1. This reduction was associated with differences in the degradation mechanism from bulk to surface erosion.