24.10.2011
Plastics supplier Teijin Ltd. has begun commercial sales of film and sheet extrusion grades of its Biofront brand of bioplastic. Teijin's material has a melting point of at least 210°C, significantly higher than that of conventional bioplastics.
The Biofront material already has been offered in injection molding grades and sees use in, for example, eyeglass frames. Biofront differs from conventional polylactic acid (PLA), which is comprised solely of poly-L-lactic acid polymer, in that it is a stereocomplex PLA that also contains the poly-D-lactic acid enantiomer. This results in a melting point that is more than 40°C higher than standard PLA, putting Biofront's heat resistance on a par with petroleum-derived polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)....