Polylactide (PLA)-based nanocomposites

Biobased plastics and bionanocomposites: Current status and future opportunities

PLA composites: From production to properties

Uneven distribution of nanoparticles in immiscible fluids: Morphology development in polymer blends

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/457561.pdf

Compatibilization in bio-based and biodegradable polymer blends

Selective Localization of Nanofillers: Effect on Morphology and Crystallization of PLA/PCL Blends

Phase behavior and its viscoelastic response of polylactide/poly(ε-caprolactone) blend

The biodegradable polylactide composites containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with high aspect ratio (HAR) and low aspect ratio (LAR) were prepared by melt mixing. The physical properties of those two systems were characterized in terms of rheology, conductivity, and mechanical properties for establishing preliminary structure–property relations. Several viscoelastic models were then used to further describe the relations between aspect ratio and percolation network of CNTs. The results show that these two CNTs present different structural characteristics in the polylactide (PLA) matrix during melt mixing: the LAR CNTs are far stiffer than the HAR CNTs. At low loading levels, the former is dispersed as bent fibers or their small bundles, whereas the latter is dispersed as self-entangled flocs, presenting far larger hydrodynamic radius than the former. At high loading levels, both are dispersed as flocs due to strong tube–tube interactions. However, the two CNTs show approximate average floc size and mesh size because they present same rigid length and effective aspect ratio. At identical loadings, therefore, the HAR CNTs have more total number of flocs than that of the LAR CNTs, forming network with more compact structure and imparting higher contributions to properties of the composites as a result. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 479–489, 2010

Relations Between the Aspect Ratio of Carbon Nanotubes and the Formation of Percolation Networks in Biodegradable Polylactide/Carbon Nanotube Composites

Biodegradable poly(butylene succinate)/polylactide (PBS/PLA) blends with various blending ratios were prepared by melt mixing for morphological and rheological studies. Dynamic rheological measurements were performed on the blend systems and the viscoelastic responses were analyzed with several emulsion models. The results show that the PBS/PLA is an immiscible blend system with very narrow cocontinuous region and high percolation threshold. The phase inversion point could be precisely predicted by the small-amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) response. The Palierne model gave a better description of the viscoelastic response of PBS/PLA blends than that of the Gramespacher and Meissner (G-M) model. In addition, the interfacial tension between the two polymers was measured by several techniques, such as surface property characterizations, deformed drop retraction, and rheological approaches. The differences observed by these various methodologies were then further explored. Moreover, the melting and crystal...

Interfacial Properties, Viscoelasticity, and Thermal Behaviors of Poly(butylene succinate)/Polylactide Blend

Poly(e-caprolactone)/polylactide blend (PCL/PLA) is an interesting biomaterial because the two component polymers show good complementarity in their physical properties. However, PCL and PLA are incompatible thermodynamically and hence the interfacial properties act as the important roles controlling the final properties of their blends. Thus, in this work, the PCL/PLA blends were prepared by melt mixing using the block copolymers as compatibilizer for the studies of interfacial properties. Several rheological methods and viscoelastic models were used to establish the relations between improved phase morphologies and interfacial properties. The results show that the interfacial behaviors of the PCUPLA blends highly depend on the interface-located copolymers. The presence of copolymers reduces the interfacial tension and emulsified the phase interface, leading to stabilization of the interface and retarding both the shape relaxation and the elastic interface relaxation. As a result, besides the relaxation of matrices (τ m ) and the shape relaxation of the dispersed PLA phase (τ F ), a new relaxation behavior (τ β ), which is attribute to the relaxation of Marangoni stresses tangential to the interface between dispersed PLA phase and matrix PCL, is observed on the compatibilized blends. In contrast to that of the diblock copolymers, the triblock copolymers show higher emulsifying level. However, both can improve the overall interfacial properties and enhance the mechanical strength of the PCL/PLA blends as a result.

Weidong Zhou

Papers

Selective Localization of Nanofillers: Effect on Morphology and Crystallization of PLA/PCL Blends

Phase behavior and its viscoelastic response of polylactide/poly(ε-caprolactone) blend

Relations Between the Aspect Ratio of Carbon Nanotubes and the Formation of Percolation Networks in Biodegradable Polylactide/Carbon Nanotube Composites

Interfacial Properties, Viscoelasticity, and Thermal Behaviors of Poly(butylene succinate)/Polylactide Blend

Viscoelastic interfacial properties of compatibilized poly(ε‐caprolactone)/polylactide blend