Mechanical, Physical, and Barrier Properties of Poly(Lactide) Films

High molecular mass poly(lactide), (PLA), is an attractive polymer family because in addition to being thermoplastic, biodegradable, compostable, and produced from annually renewable resources, it shows mechanical and barrier behavior comparable to synthetic polymers like polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Furthermore, technology for large-scale fabrication of PLA has been fully developed. However, there is still a need to better understand the properties of PLA as this polymer is adapted to packaging applications, especially for food packaging. In this work, films from two PLA resins were studied by tensile testing; differential scanning calorimetry (DSC); and permeation of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water vapor. The data from these two PLA film samples are compared to those of PS and PET.