A New Biodegradable Flexible Composite Sheet from Poly(lactic acid)/Poly(ε‐caprolactone) Blends and Micro‐Talc

Abstract

The influence of talc loading on phase morphology of PLA/PCL/talc composites and improvement in resulting properties are reported. Talc‐based composites of PLA/PCL blends were prepared by melt blending. SEM analysis demonstrates that PLA appears as discrete domain phase, while PCL acts as a bulk phase in the blend. Talc addition decreases PLA domain sizes and voids in the matrix. This results in significant improvement of oxygen and water vapor barrier properties of composite by 33 and 25%, respectively, at 3 wt.‐% talc loading. DSC shows that talc acted as nucleating agent for PCL phase in the composite and improves its crystallinity. Various theoretical models based on dispersion and filler geometry are used to predict the tensile modulus and oxygen permeability.

Morphology and thermal degradation studies of melt-mixed poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) biodegradable polymer blend nanocomposites with TiO2 as filler

“…It has good toughness, displays rubbery properties and has low glass transition and melting temperatures (-60 and 60 ºC, respectively). It is also more thermally stable than PLA, which opens the possibility that the presence of PCL in PLA will not only improve its toughness, but also its thermal stability [16,18,20,21]. Blends of PLA and PCL have been extensively studied [9,16,18,21], and they were reported to be immiscible, with discrete PLA domains in a continuous PCL phase, and with poor mechanical properties because of their incompatibility [18,22,23].…”

“…It is a useful material in substituting the petroleum-based polymers used in packaging, due to its good mechanical strength, processability and energy saving recycling in which it is degraded by addition into a suitable compost where degradation will take place at ambient temperatures. It is, however, hydrophobic and has poor toughness, a slow degradation rate, a lack of reactive side-chain groups and low thermal stability [15][16][17][18]. Several factors such as absorbed moisture, molecular weight, residual monomer, and metal catalysts affect the thermal stability of PLA, which can be improved by blending with other thermally stable polymers or by filling it with thermally stable inorganic nanofillers [19].…”

Characterization of antimicrobial poly(lactic acid)/poly(trimethylene carbonate) films with cinnamaldehyde

“…where DH m (J/g) is the melting enthalpy of sample, W is the PLA weight fraction in the sample, and DH°m is the melting enthalpy of 100 % crystalline PLA (93.7 J/g) [12]. The value of X c was also shown in Table 2.…”

“…A large number of substances, such as j-carrageenan, poly (e-caprolactone), cellulose, and limonene, have been blended with PLA in order to improve its flexibility, toughness, and barrier properties of films [5,[11][12][13]. Poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) is a biodegradable amorphous polymer with a low glass transition temperature (T g ) between -14 and -25°C.…”

Effect of halloysite on structure and properties of melt-drawn PCL/PLA microfibrillar composites

“…The mostly applied PLLA containing 2-4% D-isomer has low compatibility with PCL [5]; therefore, various compatibilizing techniques [6,7] must be applied. In this area, application of various nanofillers (NF) leading to simultaneous reinforcement, compatibilization, and improvement of other material parameters may also be beneficial [8][9][10][11][12]. Recently, halloysite nanotubes have been successfully applied to modification of PLA [13,14] and PCL [15,16]; their advantage is dispersion even without organophilization in these polar polymers.…”