The Effect of Blending Methods on the Properties of PLA/Gr Nanocomposites

Abstract

Polymer nanocomposites based on polylactic acid (PLA) and graphene (Gr) were blended via melt blending and solution mixing. The properties of hardness and melt flow index (MFI) were investigated with variables of Gr loading from 0.5–2.0 wt.% and the effect of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as plasticizer. The PLA/Gr nanocomposites exhibited higher hardness compared with neat PLA for both methods of nanocomposites preparation which were due to stiffness effect from nanofiller. The loading of PEG in the PLA nanocomposites resulted in the slightly decreasing of hardness. The hardness of PLA and PLA nanocomposites obtained from melt blending were higher than hardness from solution mixing where 2.0 wt.% Gr loading in PLA exhibited maximum value which was 83.1 Shore D. The significant improvement on the MFI could be seen with plasticizer loading compared to unfillled PEG in PLA blends obtained from both methods. Again, the MFI values of PLA/Gr showed from melt blending were higher than exhibited from solution blending method. The highest MFI was 70.6 g/10 min, obtained from 0.5 wt.% Gr loading in PLA/PEG/Gr nanocomposite. The morphology study from Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) analysis confirmed the interfacial interaction and homogeneity of Gr in PLA in order to enhance the hardness and MFI properties as discussed above.

Preparation and Characterization of Bio-Based PLA/PEG/g-C3N4 Low-Temperature Composite Phase Change Energy Storage Materials

“…Obviously, as the PLA content in the CPCMs decreased, both the modulus and hardness showed a decreasing trend, while the depth showed an increasing trend. It has been reported that the modulus and hardness of pure PLA are 4.720 GPa and 0.2290 GPa, respectively, which are higher than those of the CPCMs [31], indicating that the load of PEG in the PLA composite material led to a slight decrease in hardness [32]. This is because the addition of PEG destroyed the crystallization of PLA, as analyzed by XRD and SEM.…”

A versatile route for the fabrication of micro-patterned polylactic-acid (PLA)-based membranes with tailored morphology via breath figure imprinting

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