*2.4. Mechanical Characterization of PLA Formulations Plasticized with MBNO and MHO*

Several standardized tensile, flexural, impact and hardness tests were carried out to determine the mechanical properties of the different PLA compositions manufactured with the different types and proportions of MVOs. The tensile and flexural tests were performed according to ISO 527 and ISO 178, respectively, with an Ibertest ELIB 30 universal testing machine from SAE Ibertest (Madrid, Spain). For the tensile test, a crosshead speed of 10 mm·min−<sup>1</sup> was used with a 5 kN load cell. In the case of flexural test, the deformation rates were studied at 5 mm·min−<sup>1</sup> . Both tests were performed on at least 5 different samples of each material and the average values of the elongation at break (%), tensile and flexural strength, and Young's modulus and flexural modulus were calculated. To determine the impact resistance by energy absorption, a 6 J Charpy pendulum from Metrotec S.A. (San Sebastian, Spain) was used. According to ISO 179, rectangular samples of <sup>80</sup> <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup> <sup>×</sup> 4 mm<sup>3</sup> without notches were employed. Finally, a Shore D hardness tester model 673-D from J. Bot S.A. (Barcelona, Spain) was used to determine the hardness according to ISO 868. A minimum of 5 samples were used and the results shown are the obtained average.
