Research progress on improving thermal stability of polylactic acid based on stannous inactivation and chain end-group modification
Polylactic acid(PLA)is the most commercially available synthetic biodegradable material at present,with good mechanical properties and excellent biocompatibility.Stannous catalysts have been widely used in the industrial production of PLA because of their high catalytic activity,low price and low racemization reaction.Although the usage of stannous catalysts is tiny,the trace residue of the catalyst still promotes the thermal degradation of PLA products,and then greatly affects the performance and service life of the products.Therefore,this paper initially reviewed the mechanism of promoting thermal degradation of PLA by stannous catalysts,and then summarized the research progress on improving the thermal stability of PLA in detail from three aspects,such as stannous ion chelation,oxidation of stannous ion and chain end-group modification.It is expected that this review can provide a guideline for extending the service life of PLA products and expanding the application range of PLA products.