INVESTIGADORES
ALVAREZ Vera Alejandra
artículos
Título:
Effect of the type of clay organo-modifier on the morphology, thermal/impact/barrier properties and biodegradation in soil of polycaprolactone/clay nanocomposites
Autor/es:
LEANDRO LUDUEÑA; ANALÍA VÁZQUEZ; VERA ALVAREZ
Revista:
JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE
Editorial:
JOHN WILEY & SONS INC
Referencias:
Lugar: New York; Año: 2013 vol. 128 p. 2648 - 2657
ISSN:
0021-8995
Resumen:
The effect of addition of unmodified (CNaþ) and modified (C30B and C20A) montmorillonites on the performance of polycaprolactone (PCL) based nanocomposites prepared by melt intercalation was studied. The study covers morphological and thermal aspects, mechanical and barrier properties and also biodegradability, which are important for packaging applications. Particular effort was made to find the main characteristics of the clays responsible for the final clay dispersion degree inside the nanocomposite. The most hydrophobic reinforcement (demonstrated by water adsorption tests) also showed the strongest thermal stability (shown by thermogravimetrical analysis) and the larger basal spacing (calculated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD)), which were the main characteristics that led to the best clay dispersion degree inside the PCL matrix (demonstrated by XRD and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)). The findings demonstrate that a biodegradable polymer/clay nanocomposite with enhanced mechanical, impact, and barrier properties was obtained.