6. PLA degradation

Finished PLA products are exposed to different environmental conditions during their life cycle, which promotes degradation and leads to loss of properties. Degradation can be hydrolytic, microbial, photochemical, thermal or enzymatic and, depending on the application, can be an advantage or a disadvantage. This property opens up new opportunities for end-of-life recovery, such as chemical recycling and composting.

6.1 Hydrolytic degradation

Chemical degradation by hydrolysis is the main mechanism involved in PLA degradation, particularly in composters. Because of the ester bonds between each monomer unit, polyesters are sensitive to hydrolysis.

Water molecules react with PLA by cutting the easily cleavable ester bonds (figure...

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PLA degradation