INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF CARBONIC AGENT AND NANOCLAY ON THE PROPERTIES OF THE POLYLACTIC ACID BASED NANOCOMPOSITES

Abstract

The objective of this study is an investigation of the effects of carbonic agent and nanoclay loading level on the properties of the added flame retardant and plasticized polylactic acid (PLA) composites. Pentaerythritol (PER) was used as a carbonic agent in the composites. The flammability behaviour of these composites was investigated with the increasing nanoclay loading level. Flame retardant properties of plasticized PLA composites which are consisting of PER and nanoclay as a synergistic agent were evaluated. While the nanoclay loading levels were changed between 1-5 wt% of these samples, PER loading levels were fixed at 2 wt%. Besides, effects of increased PER loading level were also investigated with 3 wt% clay loading. Samples were produced by using extrusion and injection molding techniques. The morphological, thermal and mechanical properties were studied. The flammability was evaluated by using limiting oxygen index (LOI) and vertical burning test (UL-94). The results showed increased PER level didn’t significantly change LOI values of the PLA based nanocomposites. In addition, the highest LOI value was observed as 32 for 1 wt% nanoclay including sample. While adding PER to the PLA/PEG/TPP increased the elongation at break value, adding of the nanoclay decreased this value for nanocomposites.