Improving impact toughness of polylactide/poly(ether)urethane blends via designing the phase morphology assisted by hydrophilic silica nanoparticles

Simultaneously toughening and reinforcing poly(lactic acid)/thermoplastic polyurethane blend via enhancing interfacial adhesion by hydrophobic silica nanoparticles

“…On addition of 2 wt% SiO 2 nanoparticles, the impact strength and tensile toughness increase [7] M A N U S C R I P T …”

“…However, there are only a few reports in this regard. For PLA/PU (15 wt%) blend, Xiu et al [7] found that hydrophilic silica selectively locating in the PU phase and at the phase interface changes the phase morphology from a sea-island structure to a unique network-like structure composed of discrete PU domains with irregular shapes, which obviously improves the impact strength of the blend. Odent et al [8] obtained ultra-tough PLA-based nanocomposites through melt mixing of PLA, rubber-like poly(ε-caprolactone-co-D,L -lactide) copolyester (10 wt%) and hydrophobic silica nanoparticles.…”

Dispersion of organophilic Ag nanoparticles in PS-PMMA blends

“…The wetting coefficient (u a ) is a frequently used principle to predict the placement of the particles [14,30]. It can be derived from Young's equation: Tapping mode AFM (a) topography and (b) phase image of Ag particle domains located in preferentially PMMA-rich domain.…”

“…The authors proposed a simple interfacial energy argument to act as a guideline for predicting whether the nanoparticles are directed to the interface between the phases or into the phase preventing film rupture. Xiu et al studied phase morphology in compounded hydrophilic silica nanoparticles in polylactide/poly(-ether)urethane blend films [14]. The selective location of silica nanoparticles in the polyurethane phase and at the phase interface induces the morphological change from a common sea-island structure to a unique network structure, thus giving rise to remarkable improvement in the impact toughness.…”

Percolation networks and transient rheology of polylactide composites containing graphite nanosheets with various thicknesses

“…Among the most commonlyused modification approaches, hybridization with nanoscaled particles has been revealed to be a simple but very effective strategy to design or to control hierarchical structures and final properties of PLA [5]. Many kinds of nanoparticles such as silica [6,7], layered silicate [8e13], and carbon nanotubes [14e17], as well as cellulose nanocrystal [18], have been used as the filler successively to improve final properties of PLA, or even to produce new bio-based nanocomposites with unexpected properties [19].…”