Concerns over the depletion of fossil fuels, climate change,
reduced variability in feedstock costs relative to petroleum-derived
building blocks and pressure from various constituents to increase
the renewable carbon content in plastics has driven interest in
developing bio-based plastics. Polylactide (PLA) is a commercial
bio-based polymer manufactured from lactic acid, a product of
sugar fermentation and is currently considered of the most promising
bio-polymers produced on industrial scale [1]. PLA is costeffective
and improvements in its manufacturing process have led
to substantial reductions in energy input during its manufacture
[2]. Overall, PLA's properties are similar to that of polystyrene in
that it has a high Young's Modulus (~3 GPa) and a low elongation at
break (Eb ~2e5%) [3]. PLA has a low heat distortion temperature
(HDT) which prohibits its use in applications exceeding 55e60 C.
This low HDT of PLA is the main reason that it cannot be used as a
green replacement for higher temperature applications.