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The Rheology, Degradation, Processing, And Characterization Of Renewable Resource Polymers, Jason Conrad

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Renewable resource polymers have become an increasingly popular alternative to conventional fossil fuel based polymers over the past couple decades. The push by the government as well as both industrial and consumer markets to go 'green' has provided the drive for companies to research and develop new materials that are more environmentally friendly and which are derived from renewable materials. Two polymers that are currently being produced commercially are poly-lactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) copolymers, both of which can be derived from renewable feedstocks and have shown to exhibit similar properties to conventional materials such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, …