Eco-friendly cellulose acetate butyrate/poly(butylene succinate) blends: crystallization, miscibility, thermostability, rheological and mechanical properties

In this work, the crystallization, miscibility, thermostability, rheological and mechanical properties of cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB)/poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) blends were investigated in detail. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis confirmed that PBS could form crystalline phase in the solution casted CAB/PBS blends with W_CAB ≤ 60 wt.%. When the blends were crystallized from melt, the crystallization of PBS was found to be severely suppressed by the amorphous diluent of CAB. CAB and PBS were confirmed to be thermodynamic miscible in molten state by the negative value of Flory-Huggins interaction parameter (χ₁₂ = −0.89) between CAB and PBS. The rheological characterization results and thermogravimetric analysis revealed that the melt viscosity and thermostability of CAB were reduced and improved by blending CAB with PBS, respectively. Moreover, the rigid CAB became more flexible after incorporating with ductile PBS. The application of CAB is expected to be extended via blending the two species of eco-friendly polymers.