The mechanical properties of the PLA/EVA50 blends are presented in Table 2. As a consequence of the elastomeric nature of EVA50, the strength, modulus and hardness of the blends decrease gradually with increasing EVA50 content. In contrast, the impact toughness and the elongation at break increase steeply after adding a certain amount of
the EVA50. The notched Izod impact toughness of the PLA/EVA50 blends is still low when EVA50 content is lower than 10 wt.%, probably because the small EVA50 particles
are difficult to cavitate under the impact condition (i.e. high speed) [37,39]. However, a significant increase in the impact toughness is found at 15 wt.% of EVA50. Further increasing the EVA50 content, super-tough PLA/EVA50 blends (notched Izod impact toughness >60 kJ m2) could be obtained. The impact toughness of PLA is improved by
a factor of approx. 30 after addition of 30 wt.% EVA50.