INVESTIGADORES
GONZALEZ Jimena Soledad
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Improving behaviour of biodegradable polymers by the addition of micro fillers for specific applications.
Autor/es:
JIMENA SOLEDAD GONZALEZ; LEANDRO LUDUEÑA; MATIAS AMADO; ADOLFO SEBASTIÁN MAIOLO; VERA ALEJANDRA ALVAREZ
Lugar:
Strasbourg
Reunión:
Conferencia; Hybrid Materials 2011 Second International Conference on Multifunctional, Hybrid and Nanomaterials; 2011
Resumen:
It is well known that the addition of
micro-reinforcements can improve several properties of polymeric matrices, such
as mechanical, thermal and barrier properties.
In this work we have studied the effect of HA
(hydroxiapatite) incorporation to PVA (polyvinylalcohol) hydrogel and cellulose
addition to PCL (polycaprolactone) on the structure, thermal and mechanical
behaviour of each material. In the case of hydrogels the swelling
characteristics were also analyzed at different media whereas for PCL, biodegradation
tests were carried out.
Hydrogels were obtained by freezing-thawing
technique and HA was in-situ generated. PCL composites were processing by
melt-intercalation following by compression moulding. In both cases, different
filler contents were employed.
It was found out that the incorporation of HA
produced a clear decrease on the maximum water uptake. In addition, it was determined
that pH have an important effect on this property. Furthermore the HA
incorporation produce an increase on the compression properties of pure PVA hydrogel
although there exist an optimal value (3 wt.% HA) which the strength became the
highest. All these exploratory results seem to show that the obtained material
could be used as articular cartilage instead of the nowadays used material. Other
tests related with service conditions are being carried out.
In the case of PCL composites, it was determined
that the incorporation of cellulose evidently influence the all crystallization
behaviour of the pure matrix (crystallinity degree, perfection of crystal,
nucleation sort; global crystallization rate) depending on the filler content. The
best combination of tensile properties (modulus, strength and elongation at
break) was obtained for 15 wt % cellulose being the high aspect ratio of the fibers
and the dispersion of the filler inside the matrix. The main responsible for
such behaviour. In addition, cellulose favoured the biodegradation of PCL. All
results indicate the potentiality of produced material for packaging.