Mechanical behaviour of starch based nanocomposites

LUCIA FAMÁ; VALERIA PETTARIN; SILVIA GOYANES; CELINA BERNAL

San Sebastian, España

Conferencia; V International Conference on Science and Technology of Composite Materials, 8º Congreso Nacional de Materiales Compuestos COMATCOMP’09; 2009

In this work, novel nanocomposites based in tapioca starch polymer reinforced with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were developed. The effect of the addition of small fractions of MWCNTs (0.027 wt.% and 0.055 wt.%) in the quasistatic tensile and in the biaxial impact response of the nanocomposites was investigated. An aqueous solution of starch-iodine complex was used to wrap the filler before adding it to the polymer. Under both loading conditions investigated, the nanocomposites exhibited improved mechanical behaviour in comparison to the starch matrix. In addition, it was observed that carbon nanotubes were properly wrapped by the starch-iodine complex used. From the above findings, good dispersion of individual nanotubes or bundle of them in the starch matrix and adequate adhesion between phases could be expected.