ON THE PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES OF BIOPOL ETHYLENE-VINYL ACETATE BLENDS

Some aspects of the structural, thermal and mechanical properties of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) blended with biodegradable BIOPOL copolymers have been investigated in this work. X-ray measurements and thermal analysis showed that a homogeneous mixture of the two components was not formed: two crystalline structures, melting regions and glass transitions were found. relating to the BIOPOL and EVA components separately. Phase separation was also investigated by scanning electron microscopy of plasma-etched and biodegraded samples. Dynamic mechanical measurements showed that the EVA component reduced the dynamic modulus over the whole temperature range of measurement. The fracture behaviour was markedly dependent on blend composition. Weight loss measurements of soil-degraded samples indicated that only the BIOPOL component degraded biologically.