Investigation of the Effect of Hybrid Nanofiller on the Mechanical Performance and Surface Properties of Bio-Based Polylactic Acid/Polyolefin Elastomer (PLA/POE) Blend

Abstract

Polylactic acid has stood out among bio-based polymers for its usage in the food packaging industry and biomedical fields. Through the melt mixing process, the toughened poly(lactic) acid (PLA) was prepared with polyolefin elastomer (POE), incorporated via various ratios of nanoclay and a fixed amount of nanosilver particles (AgNPs). The correlation between the compatibility and morphology, mechanical properties, and surface roughness of samples with nanoclay was studied. The calculated surface tension and melt rheology confirmed the interfacial interaction demonstrated by droplet size, impact strength, and elongation at break. Each blend sample exhibited matrix-dispersed droplets, and the size of POE droplets steadily dropped with increasing nanoclay content, corresponding to the enhanced thermodynamic affinity between PLA and POE. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) acknowledged that the inclusion of nanoclay in the PLA/POE blend ameliorated the mechanical performance by preferable localization in the interface of used components. The optimum value of elongation at break was acquired at about 32.44%, where the incorporation of 1 wt.% nanoclay led, respectively, to 171.4% and 24% enhancement rather than the PLA/POE blend with the composition of 80/20 and the virgin PLA. Similarly, the impact strength reached 3.46 ± 0.18 kJ m−1 as the highest obtained amount, showing the proximity of 23% progress to the unfilled PLA/POE blend. Surface analysis indicated that adding nanoclay caused the augment of surface roughness from 23.78 ± 5.80 µm in the unfilled PLA/POE blend to 57.65 ± 18.2 µm in PLA/POE contained 3 wt.% nanoclay. Rheological measurements implied that organoclay resulted in the strengthening of melt viscosity as well as the rheological parameters such as storage modulus and loss modulus. Han plot further showed that the storage modulus is always higher than the loss modulus in all prepared PLA/POE nanocomposite samples, corresponding to the restriction of polymer chains mobility induced by the formation of strong molecular interaction between nanofillers and polymer chains.

Effect of Graphene Oxide Localization on Morphology Development and Rheological and Mechanical Properties of Poly(lactic acid)/ethylene vinyl Alcohol Copolymer Blend Composites: A Comprehensive Study

“…This is commonly observed in immiscible binary polymer blends, where the slope in the terminal region of the Han plot deviates from 2. This deviation clearly indicates the blend’s heterogeneous structure, which can significantly impact its properties and behavior [ 54 , 55 , 56 ]. When the Han plot exhibits more significant deviation beyond the miscibility criteria, it indicates heightened elasticity in the low-frequency region.…”

The Development of Sustainable Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol-Based (PETG) Blends for Additive Manufacturing Processing—The Use of Multilayered Foil Waste as the Blend Component

“…A natural suggestion for further work on this topic could be to optimize the composition of the developed blends, especially in terms of the impact modifier (IM) content. The constant content of 20% used during the tests was estimated in accordance with the guidelines of manufacturers of this type of additive, as well as previous research in this area, including our own [ 53 , 97 , 98 ]. The use of a smaller amount of the IM additive could maintain the higher stiffness/strength of the prepared blends; additionally, the reduced content of the relatively expensive elastomer would also be economically justified.…”

Study of the matrix–particle interactions of polymer nanocomposites in the low‐frequency regime

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15] Particularly, polymer nanocomposites based on polylactic acid (PLA) have been extensively investigated. [16][17][18][19] Nanocomposites based on PLA reinforced with SiO 2 particles of varying size in the nano and micron-scale at one specific loading equal to 4 wt% were prepared and studied experimentally by various experimental techniques. 16 The mechanical and thermomechanical performance revealed a significant mechanical enhancement, while the values of Young's modulus were analyzed by finite element analysis.…”