Novel Method to Control the Rheological Properties and Processability for Microbial Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)

摘要

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and its copolymers, one of the most famous biomass-based polyesters, will be employed in various applications in near future because of their attractive properties, such as heat-resistance, rigidity, and biodegradability. In particular, the excellent biodegradability which occurs even in an anaerobic condition is a significantly attractive property from the viewpoints of the application to biological nitrogen removal at water-purification process. Currently, however, poor processability due to low level of melt elasticity and thermal decomposition during processing prohibits the application, because it is difficult to obtain open-cell foams from PHB. In this presentation, it is shown that a small amount of crosslinked poly(epichlorohydrin) having low density of crosslink points greatly enhances the elastic nature, which would be responsible for good foam processability. Moreover, the effect of thermal degradation on the rheological properties is also presented.