INTEMA   05428
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES EN CIENCIA Y TECNOLOGIA DE MATERIALES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Preparation and Characterization of PCL/Modified-Clay Biodegradable Nanocomposites
Autor/es:
ROMINA OLLIER; MATIAS LANFRANCONI; LEANDRO N. LUDUEÑA; VERA A. ALVAREZ
Lugar:
Pisa
Reunión:
Conferencia; Euporean Polymer Conference EPF 2013; 2013
Resumen:
Because of waste accumulation at the end of the life cycle of traditional polymer products, the development of environmental friendly, degradable, polymeric materials has attracted extensive interest in the last decades [1]. In this work, biodegradable nanocomposites based on Polycaprolactone (PCL) reinforced with 0, 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 wt.% of two different clays: Cloisite 20A (C20A, commercial organo-clay) and BentTBHP (natural bentonite modified in our laboratory with tributyl hexadecyl phosphonium bromide) were prepared by melt intercalation followed by compression molding. The study contemplates morphological (X-Ray Diffractometry, XRD) and thermal aspects (Differential Scanning Calorimetry, DSC, and Thermogravimetrical Analysis, TGA) and mechanical properties (tensile tests) which are important properties for packaging applications. In previous works [2] we concluded that higher clay dispersion degree inside the PCL matrix is expected using clays with large interlayer distance, strong hydrophobicity and strong processing stability. In this work the opposite result was obtained. The clay with largest interlayer distance, strongest hydrophobicity and strongest processing stability (TBHP) showed the lowest clay dispersion degree inside PCL. This result suggested that not always a similar matrix/clay hydrophobocity degree is related with optimal matrix/clay compatibility. Poor PCL/TBHP mechanical properties in comparison with PCL/C20A nanocomposites were obtained which is in accordance with the morphological analysis. On the other hand, the thermal properties of the matrix (crystallinity degree and melting temperature) were not substantially affected by clay incorporation of both clays.