Toughening polylactide

Polylactide is a commercially-produced thermoplastic that is derived from renewable resources and is environmentally degradable. Due to these attributes, polylactide holds tremendous promise as an alternative to the ubiquitous petroleum-based materials. However, in situations that require a high level of impact strength, the toughness of polylactide in its pristine state is often insufficient. As such, there has been tremendous effort in developing ways to improve this material property deficiency. In this review we summarize these approaches for increasing the toughness of polylactide with an eye toward how the toughening protocols influence the overall mechanical properties of the resultant materials.