Abstract
The balance of strengthening and toughening of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) has been an intractable challenge of PLA nanocomposite development for many years. In this paper, core–shell nanoparticles consisting of a silica rigid core and poly (butyl acrylate) (PBA) flexible shell were incorporated to achieve the simultaneous enhancement of the strength and toughness of PLA. The effect of core–shell nanoparticles on the tensile, flexural and Charpy impact properties of PLA nanocomposite were experimentally investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements were performed to investigate the toughening mechanisms of nanocomposites. The experimental results showed that the addition of core–shell nanoparticles can improve the stiffness and strength of PLA. Meanwhile, its elongation at break, tensile toughness and impact resistance were enhanced simultaneously. These observations can be attributed to the cavitation of the flexible shell in core–shell nanoparticles and the resultant shear yielding of the matrix. In addition, a three-dimensional finite element model was also proposed to illustrate the damage processes of core–shell nanoparticle-reinforced polymer composites. It was found that, compared with the experimental performance, the proposed micromechanical model is favorable to illustrate the mechanical behavior of nanocomposites.
Highlights
The environmental and resource problems induced by the excessive use of petroleum-based plastics have generated immense interest in the development of biodegradable polymers [1]
PLA composite significantly increased to 8.6%, which can be ascribed to the fact that the core–shell nanoparticle can can be be used used as as aa nucleation nucleation agent agent and and induce induce the the heterogenous crystallization of of nanoparticle heterogenous crystallization
Our study, is demonstrated that only a low loading of core–shell nanoparticles can achieve the balance of strengthening and toughening a low loading of core–shell nanoparticles can achieve the balance of strengthening and toughening resulting from the the synergistic effect effect between the the rigid core core andflexible flexible shell
Summary
The environmental and resource problems induced by the excessive use of petroleum-based plastics have generated immense interest in the development of biodegradable polymers [1]. The core–shell nanofiller was applied to improve the strength and toughness of PLA nanocomposite, in which nano-silica and Poly (butyl acrylate) (PBA) were designed as the rigid inner core and flexible outer shell of the core–shell filler, respectively. To understand the effect of core–shell nanoparticles on the mechanical behavior and failure mechanism of PLA-based composites, the experimental results were analyzed numerically using the finite element method (FEM). Both the interfacial debonding and matrix damage were considered in the three-dimensional micromechanical model based on the cohesive zone model and ductile damage model, respectively
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