Investigating the properties of poly (lactic acid)/exfoliated graphene based nanocomposites fabricated by versatile coating approach

Abstract

In order to overcome the challenges that underlies in dispersion of exfoliated graphene (GR) into poly lactic acid (PLA) matrix by extrusion, a versatile approach is used in this work, where uniform coating of GR over PLA is carried out prior to extrusion of PLA. Effect of melt processing on different graphene loaded composites (PLA-M-0.05GR, PLA-M-0.2GR) is studied. Investigation on the morphology, thermal stability, crystallization property, surface wettability, mechanical property, and dynamic mechanical property of composites are performed. XRD analysis and morphological analysis confirm the formation of well dispersed composite. Thermo-gravimetric analysis and kinetic study reveal significant improvement in thermal stability. Improvement in crystallinity, melting point, crystallization point are found from DSC analysis. Crystallization kinetic study is carried out and nucleation effect of the GR on crystallization of PLA chain is noticed. Hydrophobicity of the PLA composites is increased by the incorporation of graphene. Tensile strength of the composites is noticed to be increased as compared to PLA-M. An improvement of storage modulus for the composites over PLA-M is observed by Dynamic mechanical analysis.