Plasticized and nanofilled poly(lactic acid)‐based cast films: Effect of plasticizer and organoclay on processability and final properties

Abstract

PLA-based nanocomposites filled with the commercial organomodified montmorillonite Dellite 43B (D43B) and containing acetyl tri-n-butyl citrate (ATBC) as plasticizer were prepared by extrusion in a pilot-scale twin-screw extruder and melt casted into flexible films. A preliminary investigation was carried out in a laboratory batch mixer by varying blending conditions and addition procedures of the components. Indeed, the method of addition of ATBC and D43B considerably affected thermo-mechanical properties and morphology of the resultant nanocomposites. The simultaneous introduction of both ATBC and D43B during the extrusion process allowed producing clearly exfoliated nanocomposite materials with modulated mechanical and thermal properties. Moreover, rheological results, obtained during melt extrusion, assessed the processability of nanofilled-plasticized PLA, making this simple procedure interesting in view of the industrial production of nanostructured biomaterials based on plasticized PLA.

Molecular mobility and physical ageing of plasticized poly(lactide)

“…When adding 10%wt plasticizer, T g decreases from 60 to 38°C for the PLA‐5/TA while it decreases from 60 to 41°C for the PLA‐8/ATBC. Similar observations have been reported in the literature with ATBC yielding T g values between 45 and 47°C at a content of 10 wt% and between 17 and 38°C at a content of 20 wt% while TA decreases T g from 60°C (neat PLA) to values between 29 to 48°C at a content of 10 wt% and between 21 to 29°C at 20 wt% . Plasticization is typically dependent on the chemical nature of the molecule .…”

Cosmetic Packaging to Save the Environment: Future Perspectives

“…Interestingly, if the plasticization was carried out in the presence of poly(Butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) as polymeric additive, a preferential migration of the acetyl tributyl citrate in the PBAT phase was observed [36] suggesting the necessity of selecting a plasticizer on the basis of its preferential affinity with the PLA matrix. [32,33,[38][39][40] As both rigid and flexible packaging is generally used for liquid or pasty cosmetic, the barrier properties of PLA-based formulations must be particularly high. Usually barrier properties can be improved thanks to the use of inorganic additives.…”

“…Among the inorganic additives, layered silicates, such as montmorillonite (MMT), appear to be effective fillers to improve the overall performances of PLA system even at low concentration (1-5 wt %) [37]. However, to reach this improvement, a high degree of clay dispersion that highly depends on the adopted preparation method, and on the compatibility between the polymer matrix and the clay is needed [38,39]. Jorda-Beneyto et al [40,41] used two organo-modified clays for food contact applications to produce hydrophobically-modified montmorillonite, to obtain better compatibility between the biopolymer and the filler (nanoclay).…”

Properties and Skin Compatibility of Films Based on Poly(Lactic Acid) (PLA) Bionanocomposites Incorporating Chitin Nanofibrils (CN)

“…The plasticizer has a synergistic effect: it improves the processability and flexibility and at the same time it can facilitate the dispersion of the CNs. Citrates plasticizers have been investigated in literature; thanks to their ester groups, they have a very good affinity with the PLA matrix and favor the CNs dispersion [41][42][43]. However, it has been demonstrated that another very effective plasticizer for the dispersion of CNs is the poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) [32,34,44,45].…”