Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is one the most promising bio-based and biodegradable polymer. However, its low thermal stability limits the range of applications and complicates its transformation via the most industrial common processes. The novelty of this work is studying the thermal stability of PLA and PLA/clay nanocomposites during use, as a function of the composition and using a wide range of extrusion and injection moulding processing parameters. To improve the thermal stability of the PLA, laminar silicates containing different organomodifications have been added (Cloisite 20A and Cloisite 30B). The results show that the processing conditions and composition define the morphology of the bio-nanocomposites, which plays key role in defining final thermal properties of the material. In general, clays improve the thermal stability of the processed material, increasing the degradation temperature and decreasing the degradation rate under a wide range of processing conditions. V C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J.Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40747.
Hybrid acrylic/CeO 2 latexes with solids content as high as 50 wt% and CeO 2 content up to 1 wt% are synthesized by a seeded semibatch emulsion polymerization process. TEM images show that CeO 2 nanoparticles are randomly located within the polymer particles. The 2D trasmission electron microscopy (TEM) images are not conclusive to elucidate if CeO 2 is encapsulated in the hybrid polymer particles. A TEM tomographic analysis is presented here to assess their morphology. The study shows that the latexes synthesized present an encapsulated morphology for CeO 2 nanoparticles regardless of whether these are located at the center or borders of the polymer particles.
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