Polylactic acid’s deforming characteristics challenge assumptions about brittleness as a property

Key Points

• To examine how polylactic acid deforms when scratched and challenge existing assumptions about brittleness.
• Utilized in-situ observation techniques
• Employed polarized light imaging
• Assessed the deformation characteristics of polylactic acid
• Polylactic acid demonstrated unexpected deformation under scratching
• Findings challenge the assumption that brittleness is a fixed property of this material