Potential role of nanofillers as compatibilizers in immiscible PLA/LDPE Blends

Abstract

This article describes the use of commercial silica (SiO 2 ) and calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) nanofillers as compatibilizers in immiscible polylactide/low-density polyethylene (PLA/LDPE) blends. The general aim of the study was to investigate the possibilities of replacing standard commodity plastics such as LDPE based on non-renewable mineral oil resources with the biodegradable renewable polymer PLA in compatibilized PLA/LDPE blends for use in the packaging industry. The calculations of the minimal interfacial energy and optimal wetting abilities indicated that SiO 2 filler was a better potential compatibilizer than CaCO 3 for a given PLA/ LDPE blend. This was due to its preferential localization at the interface. The significantly improved morphology of the ternary PLA/ LDPE/SiO 2 blend was found to present an increased strength, toughness, and crystallinity.

Composites based on green high-density polyethylene, polylactide and nanosized calcium carbonate: Effect of the processing parameter and blend composition

“…This is an interesting result since the addition of nCaCO3 did not improve these tensile properties. According to the literature, studies involving PLA/CaCO3 and PLA/LDPE/nCaCO3 report that mechanical properties depend on CaCO3 content and are affected by filler localization in the blend [24,25]. In the present study, the non-reinforcing behavior of nCaCO3 was attributed to its lower content and size when compared to the PLA phase.…”

Designing Hydrophobicity of the PLA Polymer Blend Surfaces by ICP Etching

“…Filler particles are observable on the surface and because of their interactions they produced different kind of roughness on the PLA matrix phase. Silica R711 filler which has larger specific surface area and much smaller particles changed polymer blend structure and reduced the size of the dispersed phase to less than 2 µm and because of that the “island‐like” structure is absent on these samples. Polymer blends of PLA with PA12, PUR, and PVAC have very similar morphology and, because they are similarly affected by the ICP etching, also very similar surface roughness after the etching and coating treatments.…”

The influence of the dispersed phase on the morphology, mechanical and thermal properties of PLA/PE‐LD and PLA/PE‐HD polymer blends and their nanocomposites with TiO2 and CaCO3

“…As previously discussed, the poor mechanical properties of the polymer blends are caused by surface and interfacial phenomena that can be interpreted as the absence of adhesion or interaction between the polymers in the immiscible blends . Also, SEM micrographs (Fig.…”