Jang SH

Vol. 19,  No. 4, pp. 401-409, Dec.  2013

Organic Clay-20 Polylactic acid Twin-screw extruder Raman-microscope spectrophotometry Hydrolytic degradation

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BBiodegradable polymers have attracted great attention because of the increased environmental pollution by waste plastics. In this study, PLA (polylactic acid)/Clay-20 (Cloisite 20) and PLA (polylactic acid)/PBS (poly(butylene succinate)/Clay-20 (Cloisite 20) nanocomposites were manufactured in a twin-screw extruder. Specimens for mechanical properties of PLA/Clay-20 and PLA/PBS (90/10)/Clay-20 nanocomposites were prepared by injection molding. Thermal, mechanical, morphological and raman spectral properties of two nanocomposites were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), tensile tester, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and raman-microscope spectrophotometer, respectively. In addition, hydrolytic degradation properties of two nanocomposites were investigated by hydrolytic degradation test. It was confirmed that the crystallinity of PLA/Clay-20 and PLA/PBS/Clay-20 nanocomposite was increased with increasing Clay-20 content and the Clay-20 is miscible with PLA and PLA/PBS resin from DSC and SEM results. Tensile strength of two nanocomposites was decreased, but thier elongation, impact strength, tensile modulus and flexural modulus were increased with an increase of Clay-20 content. The impact strength of PLA/Clay-20 and PLA/PBS/Clay-20 nanocomposites with 5 wt% of Clay-20 content was increased above twice than that of pure PLA and PLA/PBS (90/10). The hydrolytic degradation rate of PLA/Clay-20 nanocomposite with 3 wt% of Clay-20 content was accelerated about twice than that of pure PLA. The reason is that degradation may occur in the PLA and Clay-20 interface easily because of hydrophilic property of organic Clay-20. It was confirmed that a proper amount of Clay-20 can improve the mechanical properties of PLA and can control biodegradable property of PLA