Influence of processing conditions on morphological, thermal and degradative behavior of nanocomposites based on plasticized poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and organo-modified clay

DEBORA PUGLIA; ELENA FORTUNATI; DAVID A. D'AMICO; VALERIE MIRI; GREGORY STOCLET; LILIANA B. MANFREDI; VIVIANA P CYRAS; JOSÉ M. KENNY

JOURNAL OF POLYMERS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

SPRINGER/PLENUM PUBLISHERS

Lugar: New York; Año: 2015 vol. 24 p. 12 - 22

1566-2543

Polymer nanocomposites, based on a bacterial biodegradable thermoplastic polyester, poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), and unmodified montmorillonite Cloisite Na+ (CNa) and chemically modified Cloisite 15A and 93A (C15A and C93A), were prepared through a solution route. The nanostructure has been established through X-ray diffraction (XRD), while the nanocomposites were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), contact angle measurements, andthermogravimetric (TGA) analysis. Disintegrability in composting conditions has been tested at certain times (0, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days at 58 °C) and the effect of different nanoclays on the properties of biodegraded films was deeply investigated. XRD results suggest a better dispersion for C15A and C93A based nanocomposites that present also a more surface hydrophobic nature respectto PHB matrix and PHB nanocomposite loaded with unmodified Cloisite. This result is in accord with disintegrability behavior of PHB nanocomposites. Visual bservation, chemical, thermal and morphological investigations proved that the disintegration in composting conditions was faster for PHB_4CNa respect to the systems loaded with modified clays suggesting the possibility to modulate the disintegrability capacity of PHB selecting a specific filler.