Abstract
Graphene nanoplatelets (xGnP) were investigated as a novel nano-reinforcement filler in poly(lactic acid)(PLA)/poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG) blends by the melt blending method. PLA was first plasticized by PEG in order to improve its flexibility and thereby overcome its problem of brittleness. Then, xGnP was incorporated into the PLA/PEG blend. The prepared nanocomposites exhibited a significant improvement in tensile properties at a low xGnP loading. The tensile properties demonstrated the addition of 0.3 wt% of xGnP led to an increase of up to 32.7%, 69.5% and 21.9% in tensile strength, tensile modulus and elongation at break of the nanocomposites respectively, compared to PLA/PEG blend. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed the presence of a peak around 26.5○ in PLA/PEG/xGnP nanocomposites which corresponds to the characteristic peak of xGnP. The nanocomposites also shows enhanced thermal stability compared with PLA/PEG blend in thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The enhancement to some extent of the tensile properties of the PLA/PEG/xGnP nanocomposites can be ascribed to the homogeneous dispersion and orientation of the xGnP nanoplatelets in the polymer matrix and strong interfacial interaction between both components. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of PLA/PEG/0.3 wt% xGnP displays good uniformity and more homogenous morphology. Good uniformity of composites indicates a good degree of dispersion of the xGnp and therefore results in good tensile and thermal properties.
Highlights
Polymer nanocomposites based on graphene have attracted tremendous attention in recent years from both the scientific and academic communities as a result of the substantial property enhancements obtained from relatively low nanofiller loadings [1,2,3]
X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns collected from the xGnP powder, Poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/Polyethylene glycols (PEG) blend and PLA/PEG/xGnP
Conclusions xGnP was effective in achieving an improved tensile properties for PLA/PEG blend
Summary
Polymer nanocomposites based on graphene have attracted tremendous attention in recent years from both the scientific and academic communities as a result of the substantial property enhancements obtained from relatively low nanofiller loadings [1,2,3]. Exfoliated graphene nanoplatelets (xGnP), multiple graphene layers stacked to form platelets, were developed by a cost effective method as mentioned by Fukushima [7] Researchers such as Kalaitzidou et al [8], Miloaga et al [9] and Pinto et al [10] have investigated the application of xGnP as a reinforcement filler with different polymers. Significant improvements in tensile strength, tensile modulus as well as elongation at break were observed when xGnP was incorporated as reinforcement filler into PLA/PEG blend. The reason for this is that, due to the nano-scale dispersion, even with very low level of nano-reinforcement filler which results in high aspect ratio and surface area, the reinforcement efficiency of the composites can be significantly better than the conventional fillers
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