Patent ID: 8349955

Claim:
A polymer composition, comprising a blend of a poly(hydroxyalkanoic acid), an ethylene ester copolymer, and poly(trimethylene ether) glycol wherein, based on the total weight of the composition, the poly(hydroxyalkanoic acid) is present in the composition from about 50 to 99.8%; the poly(hydroxyalkanoic acid) comprises polymerized units of one or more hydroxyalkanoic acids selected from the group consisting of 6-hydroxyhexanoic acid, 3-hydroxyhexanoic acid, 4-hydroxyhexanoic acid, 3-hydroxyheptanoic acid, glycolic acid, lactic acid, 3-hydroxypropionic acid, 2-hydroxybutyric acid, 3-hydroxybutyric acid, 4-hydroxybutyric acid, 3-hydroxyvaleric acid, 4-hydroxyvaleric acid, 5-hydroxyvaleric acid, and combinations of two or more thereof; the ethylene ester copolymer is present in the composition from about 0.1 to about 40% and comprises, based on the total weight of the ethylene ester copolymer, (a) about 30 to about 99.5 weight % of copolymerized units of ethylene, (b) 0 to about 25 weight % of copolymerized units of at least one ester of the formula CH 2 ═C(R 1 )CO 2 R 2 , and (c) 0 to about 70 weight % of copolymerized units of at least one ester of the formula CH 2 ═C(R 3 )CO 2 R 4 ; provided that the amounts of (b) and (c) in the copolymer are not both 0; R 1 is hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1-6 carbon atoms; R 2 is a glycidyl group; R 3 is hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms; and R 4 is an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms; and the poly(trimethylene ether) glycol is present in the composition from about 0.1 to about 40% and has a hydroxyl number from 20 to 840.