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Modification and Application of Polylactic Acid
Summary
This review paper looks at PLA, a plant-based plastic that can break down naturally, as a promising alternative to traditional plastics that pollute our environment and break into microplastics. Scientists are working on ways to make PLA sturdier and more heat-resistant so it can be used in food packaging, medical devices, and 3D printing—but it's still more expensive than regular plastic and needs more improvement before it can fully replace it. For consumers, this matters because wider use of biodegradable plastics like PLA could eventually mean less plastic waste and fewer microplastics contaminating our food, water, and bodies.
Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biobased product and compostable polymer material. As awareness of plastic pollution grows, PLA, as a biodegradable plastic, is regarded as a key material to replace traditional plastics. In recent years, PLA has been studied for a variety of applications. However, the inherent drawbacks of pure PLA, such as poor heat resistance, low degradation rate, brittleness, and poor toughness, make it difficult to meet practical production and application requirements. Therefore, effective modification strategies for PLA have received significant attention. This paper reviews the main modification strategies for PLA polymers in recent years, including copolymerization, blending, and the use of plasticizers, as well as the applications of modified PLA in packaging, 3D printing, and biomedical fields. The study finds that PLA has been widely studied and applied in various fields, but there are still challenges remain, such as the high cost of PLA, especially in the medical field. There are also limitations in mechanical properties, and constraints in precision and functionality in 3D printing applications.