Thermal and mechanical analysis of injection moulded poly(lactic acid) filled with poly(ethylene glycol) and talc

Abstract

In our research, the effect of talc particle size was analysed on the thermal and mechanical properties of renewable resource based, biodegradable polymer Poly(Lactic Acid) (PLA). Various talc particles with an average particle size of 24 μm, 1.9 μm, and 0.7 μm were blend mixed with PLA in 10 and 20 mass% containing no or an additional 10 mass% of Poly(Ethylene Glycol) (PEG) to increase molecular chain mobility. It was demonstrated that with decreasing talc particle size, its nucleation ability increased as well as all of the investigated mechanical properties of the compounds, however, in case of compounds containing PEG, this tendency was the opposite according to Charpy impact strength results. The talc with the best nucleating ability was selected and a full factorial design of experiment was made to optimise the talc and PEG content and to investigate their cross-effect in the 1-3-5-10-15 mass% additive content range. Finally, the effect of mould temperature and cooling time was analysed on the crystallinity and heat deflection temperature of the final injection moulded parts.

Effect of the talc filler on structural, water vapor barrier and mechanical properties of poly(lactic acid) composites

“…Small quantities of talc added to the PLA matrix generally reduce the crystallization half times and decrease processing times [16]. A similar effect of talc on the crystallinity and mechanical properties of PLA/talc composites has been reported by several authors [17][18][19]. For example, Shakoor and Thomas [17] improved the Young's modulus from a value of 4.1 GPa for pure PLA, up to 9.8 GPa by addition of various contents of talc.…”

An Experimental Study on the Thermal Properties and Electrical Properties of Polylactide Doped with Nano Aluminium Oxide and Nano Cupric Oxide

“…A research on PLA doped with talc and poly ethylene glycol revealed that the crystallinity of the composite significantly increases up to 43.3% due to the nucleating effect induced by 0.7 lm talc particles in the presence of PEG (Tábi et al 2014). The addition of multiamide nucleating agent has also found to favour PLA crystallization by increasing the overall crystallization rate and hence transforming PLA into a promising engineering material (Wei et al 2012).…”

Crystallization kinetics and structure evolution of a polylactic acid during melt and cold crystallization

“…This is particularly true to those slowly crystallizing polymers such as polylactic acid [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10], which can crystallize not only from the melt state but also from the glassy state, so-called melt and cold crystallization. In addition to its importance in the fundamental aspects, understanding the crystallization process and the phase structure is also critical in designing and optimizing polymer processing.…”