Sustainable textile fibers of bioderived polylactide/poly(pentamethylene 2,5-furanoate) blends

Furanoate polyesters are emerging as promising bioderived polymers that could replace petrochemical-derived polyesters in several applications, for example, the textile field. Here, sustainable and fully bioderived fibers are wet-spun by blending poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(pentamethylene 2,5-furanoate) (PPeF), with up to 50 wt% of PPeF. PLA/PPeF blends result as immiscible, with PPeF domains homogeneously distributed within the PLA matrix, as shown by scanning electron micrographs. The immiscibility is confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry, as the glass transition temperature of PLA is unaffected by PPeF. The immiscibility and poor adhesion between PLA and PPeF are responsible for the decrease in stress at break and elongation at break from 30.1 MPa and 127%, of PLA fibers, to 3.5 MPa and 1.9%, at high PPeF amounts. However, the addition of PPeF strongly decreases the PLA's tendency to absorb water and retain the processing solvents, showing a mass loss decrease from 3.1% for PLA fibers to 1% for fibers containing 50 wt% PPeF, thereby addressing one of the main drawbacks of PLA. These results, although preliminary, offer new directions for future works on innovative and sustainable fibers based on furanoate polyesters.