CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Due to waste accumulation, the development of environmental friendly plastic products has attracted interest. Polycaprolactone (PCL) does not occur in nature but it is fully biodegradable polymer. The performance of PCL can be greatly enhanced with the addition of nanometer-size inorganic fillers. In this work, several strategies were used to obtain well-dispersed nanocomposites. The clay dispersion was characterized by X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy. Melt rheology was used as a novel method to analyze the morphology. Mechanical and thermal properties of nanocomposites films were studied. Several mathematical models were used to model the mechanical properties. The isothermal crystallization process and creep behaviour, at several temperatures and different clay type, was analyzed. The thermal degradation of the clays was studied to analyze the effect of the processing temperature on the degradation of the clay organic modifiers. The effect of the clay type and content on the degradation behavior of the matrix was analyzed by burying samples in soil.