Improvement of Poly(Lactic Acid) Properties by Ethylene-Octene Copolymer and Organoclay
Sirirat Wacharawichanant, Paweena Hanjai, Sanya Khongaio, Manop Phankokkruad
Abstract
Sirirat Wacharawichanant, Paweena Hanjai, Sanya Khongaio, Manop Phankokkruad
Abstract
The work studied the morphological, mechanical and thermal properties of poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/ethylene-octene copolymer (EOC) blends before and after adding the montmorillonite clay surface modified with 25-30% of octadecylamine (clay-ODA). The PLA/EOC blends and composites were prepared by melt mixing in an internal mixer. The EOC contents were 5, 10, 20, 30 wt% and clay-ODA contents were 1 and 3 phr. The morphology analysis showed that the addition of clay-ODA could improve the miscibility of PLA and EOC phases due to the domain size of dispersed EOC phase decreased with increasing clay-ODA content. X-ray diffraction revealed the formation of intercalated/exfoliated structure in PLA/clay-ODA and PLA blend composites. The mechanical properties showed that the impact strength of PLA/EOC blends dramatically increased with increasing EOC content up to 10 wt%. The strain at break of PLA blends increased with increasing EOC content. Moreover, the incorporation of clay-ODA increased significantly Young’s modulus of PLA and PLA/EOC blends with increasing clay-ODA content. The thermal stability of PLA/EOC blends improved with the addition of a small amount of clay-ODA.
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The work studied the morphological, mechanical and thermal properties of poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/ethylene-octene copolymer (EOC) blends before and after adding the montmorillonite clay surface modified with 25-30% of octadecylamine (clay-ODA). The PLA/EOC blends and composites were prepared by melt mixing in an internal mixer. The EOC contents were 5, 10, 20, 30 wt% and clay-ODA contents were 1 and 3 phr. The morphology analysis showed that the addition of clay-ODA could improve the miscibility of PLA and EOC phases due to the domain size of dispersed EOC phase decreased with increasing clay-ODA content. X-ray diffraction revealed the formation of intercalated/exfoliated structure in PLA/clay-ODA and PLA blend composites. The mechanical properties showed that the impact strength of PLA/EOC blends dramatically increased with increasing EOC content up to 10 wt%. The strain at break of PLA blends increased with increasing EOC content. Moreover, the incorporation of clay-ODA increased significantly Young’s modulus of PLA and PLA/EOC blends with increasing clay-ODA content. The thermal stability of PLA/EOC blends improved with the addition of a small amount of clay-ODA.
Key concepts: Organoclay, Materials science, Montmorillonite, Miscibility, Copolymer, Thermal stability, Composite material, Lactic acid