Effect of core–shell rubber toughening on mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties of poly(lactic acid)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes nanocomposites

Mohd Shaiful Zaidi Mat Desa, Azman Hassan, Reza Arjmandi, Agus Arsad

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The effect of core–shell rubber (CSR) toughening on mechanical and thermal properties of poly(lactic acid)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (PLA/CNT) nanocomposites were investigated. The nanocomposites were prepared by direct melt blending method in a counter-rotating twin-screw extruder. The contents of CSR were varied between 5 and 20 wt % while the content of CNT was kept at 5 phr. The extruded samples were injection molded into the desired test specimens for mechanical and thermal properties analysis. The impact strength of PLA/CNT increased with increasing CSR content with concomitant decrease in tensile strength and modulus. Interestingly, the flexural strength increased at low CSR content before decreasing at 15 and 20% content. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis on the second heating cycle shows no crystallinity content for PLA/CNT and all CSR toughened PLA/CNT nanocomposites, while thermogravimetric analysis shows lower thermal degradation of all CSR toughened PLA/CNT as compared to PLA/CNT nanocomposite. This study reveals significant correlation between CSR loading with the mechanical and thermal properties of the nanocomposites.

Original languageEnglish
Article number47756
JournalJournal of Applied Polymer Science
Volume136
Issue number28
Early online date19 Mar 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Jul 2019

Keywords

  • biodegradable
  • extrusion
  • fullerenes
  • graphene
  • morphology
  • nanotubes
  • thermal properties

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