Bionanocomposite films prepared with melt compounding and film blowing were evaluated for packaging applications. The nanocomposite masterbatch with 75 wt.% polylactic acid (PLA), 5 wt.% chitin nanocrystals (ChNCs) and 20 wt.% glycerol triacetate plasticizer (GTA) was melt compounded and then diluted to 1 wt.% ChNCs with PLA and polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) prior to film blowing. The morphological, mechanical, optical, thermal and barrier properties of the blown nanocomposite films were studied and compared with the reference material without ChNCs. The addition of 1 wt.% ChNCs increased the tear strength by 175% and the puncture strength by 300%. Additionally, the small amount of chitin nanocrystals affected the glass transition temperature (Tg), which increased 4 °C compared with the reference material and slightly enhanced the films degree of crystallinity. The chitin nanocomposite also had lower fungal activity and lower electrostatic attraction between the film surfaces; leading to easy opening of the plastic bags. The barrier and optical properties as well as the thermal degradation of the films were not significantly influenced by the addition of chitin nanocrystals

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This work reports a comparative study of the response of poly(2,3-dimethoxybenzyl methacrylate), poly(2,5-dimethoxybenzyl methacrylate), and poly(3,4-dimethoxybenzyl methacrylate) to electrical perturbation fields over wide frequency and temperature windows with the aim of investigating the influence of the location of the dimethoxy substituents in the phenyl moieties on the relaxation behavior of the polymers. The dielectric loss isotherms above T g exhibit a blurred relaxation resulting from the overlapping of secondary relaxations with the glass−rubber or α relaxation. At high temperatures and low frequencies, the α relaxation is hidden by the ionic conductive contribution to the dielectric loss. As usual, the real component of the complex dielectric permittivity in the frequency domain increases with decreasing frequency until a plateau is reached corresponding to the glass−rubber (α) relaxation. However, at high temperatures, the real permittivity starts to increase again with decreasing frequency until a second plateau is reached, a process that presumably reflects a distributed Maxwell−Wagner−Sillars relaxation or α′ absorption. The α and α′ processes appear respectively as asymmetric and symmetric relaxations in the loss electrical modulus isotherms in the frequency domain. To facilitate the deconvolution of the overlapping absorptions, the time retardation spectra of the polymers were computed from the complex dielectric permittivity in the frequency domain using linear programming regularization parameter techniques. The spectra exhibit three secondary absorptions named, in increasing order of time γ′, γ, and β followed by the α relaxation. At long times and well separated from the α absorption the α′ relaxation appears. The replacement of the hydrogen of the phenyl group in position 2 by the oxymethyl moiety enhances the dielectric activity of the poly(dimethoxybenzyl methacrylate)s. The temperature dependence of the relaxation times associated with the different relaxations is studied, and the molecular origin of the secondary relaxations is qualitatively discussed.

Copolymers containing vinylpyrrolidone and mono and dialkyl itaconate units with different length in the side chains were synthesized and characterized. Copolymers of vinylpyrrolidone with three different compositions of monomethyl, monoethyl, monopropyl, monoamyl, dimethyl, diethyl, dipropyl, and diamyl itaconate were obtained by radical polymerization. The reactivity ratios was estimated by using the classical Fineman−Ross and Kelen Tüdos procedures. These parameters were also estimated using a computer program based on nonlinear minimization algorithm, starting from the values of r 1 and r 2 obtained by the linear procedures. The copolymers can be considered as random. Fractionation of the copolymers were achieved by fractional precipitation. Fractions were characterized by viscometry and light scattering measurements. The unperturbed dimensions were determined using the Stockmayer−Fixman method. Higher rigidity indexes and characteristic ratios are observed in copolymers containing diitaconate units than that with monoitaconate moieties. The dependence of the glass transition temperature T g with copolymer composition and its correlation with the chain stiffness is also analyzed.