Effect of different organic modifiers on the crystallization kinetics of poly(3-hydroxibutirate) nanocomposites based on modified clays.

DAVID A. D'AMICO; LILIANA B. MANFREDI; VIVIANA P. CYRAS

Praga

Congreso; 7th MoDeSt Conference 2012; 2012

Chemistry and Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Preparation of blends or nanocomposites, using low percentages of inorganic fillers, is among the routes to improve some of the properties of biodegradable polymers such as thermal and oxidative barrier, when they are compared with traditional composites1. There are many factors which limit the use of nanocomposite based on biodegradable polymers on industrial scale like thermal stability, humidity absorption and mechanical properties. The polymer properties depend on the crystallization conditions, and thus the crystallization kinetics. The introduction of clay plays a significant role in the properties of polymers, due to the influence of the nanoparticles on their morphology and crystallization behavior2. So, it is very useful to characterize the nucleation, crystallization and structural development of PHB in clay reinforced polymer nanocomposites. This characterization should be used to optimize the processing conditions for achieving high performance polymer nanocomposites as well as realize full potential applications of these materials. For the purpose of describing the evolution of crystallinity under isothermal or dynamical conditions, a number of mathematical models have been proposed3, based on the notion of primary nucleation and subsequent crystal growth mechanisms. In this case, we used the Avrami equation, Lauritzen?Hoffman model and isoconversional method to analyze the isothermal results.