Developing bio-based plasticizers not only aids in the reduction of fossil fuel consumption but also presents a lower risk to human health. In this study, a fully biodegradable plasticizer-levulinate malate ethanol lactates (LMEL) was successfully synthesized from L-lactic acid, DL-malic acid, levulinic acid, and ethanol, and was compared with commercially plasticizers (acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC), dioctyl phthalate (DOP) and di-2-ethylhexyl terephthalate (DOTP)). 40 phr LMEL plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) (40LMEL) yielded a remarkable elongation at break of 526.9%, compared with the pure PVC resin (4.5%), thereby significantly enhancing the flexibility of PVC. Moreover, the optical transparency of 40LMEL samples was found to be equivalent to PVC plasticized with three commercial plasticizers. Most importantly, compared with three commercial plasticizers, 40LMEL exhibited superior resistance to migration and volatility, with mass losses of 1.055% in H2O, 13.601% in n-hexane, 14.636% in ethanol, and 1.496% in activated carbon, respectively. Soil degradation experiments have demonstrated that LMEL can be broken down by microorganisms in the soil into nontoxic aliphatic compounds (e.g., 4-oxo-pentanoic acid, and 4,5,7-trihydroxy 2-octenoic acid, et al.). Collectively, LMEL exhibited better overall performance than three commercial plasticizers. This work provides new options for the design of efficient fully bio-based plasticizers. A high-efficiency fully biobased biodegradable plasticizer was synthesized to improve the flexibility poly(vinyl chloride). image

Epoxy resins exhibit outstanding curability, durability, and environmental compatibility, rendering them extensively utilized in the realm of engineering curing. Nevertheless, the current curing mechanism of epoxy-based resins in cohesion with sand remains inadequately elucidated, significantly impeding their applicability within the domain of soil curing. This study employed molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the adsorption behavior of three distinct types of epoxy resins on the sand surface: diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A epoxy resin (DGEBA), diglycidyl ether 4,4 '-dihydroxy diphenyl sulfone (DGEDDS), and aliphatic epoxidation of olefin resin (AEOR). The objective was to gain insights into the interactions between the sand surface and the epoxy resin polymers. The results demonstrated that DGEDDS formed a higher number of hydrogen bonds on the sand surface, leading to stronger intermolecular interactions compared to the other two resins. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the adsorbed models of the three epoxy resins with sand were found to be relatively similar. This similarity can be attributed to their comparable chemical structures. Finally, analysis of the radius of gyration for the adsorbed epoxy resins revealed that AEOR exhibited a rigid structure due to strong molecular interactions, while DGEDDS displayed a flexible structure owing to weaker interactions.

The non-biodegradability of Ethylene-Propylene Side-by-Side (ES) fibers has led to significant environmental pollution from waste sanitary products, thereby posing a severe challenge to the environment. Replacing traditional non-biodegradable materials with biodegradable polymeric materials is the most effective method to achieve a green environment. In this study, core-sheath fibers composed of biodegradable poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) as the sheath layer and polylactic acid (PLA) as the core layer were fabricated. The effects of different viscosity ratios and the composite ratios of sheath and core on the structure and performance of the resultant core-sheath fibers were investigated in detail. The results showed that when the PBAT/PLA composite ratio is 50:50 and the viscosity ratio range from 0.8 to 1.43, the PBAT/PLA core-sheath composite fibers exhibit good spinnability and a complete core-sheath structure, with their tensile properties comparable to those of PP/PE core-sheath composite fibers. Further research found that when the viscosity ratio was 1.00 and the PLA component content in the PBAT/PLA composite fibers increased from 40% to 60%, the fibers still maintained good spinnability and a complete core-sheath structure. In addition, when the PBAT/PLA composite ratio was 60:40, after 120 days of biodegradation, its strength retention rate was only 35.2%. The influence of viscosity ratio and composite ratio on the spinnability of PBAT/PLA sheath-core fibers. image