Abstract
Polylactic acid (PLA)/halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) bionanocomposites were prepared using solution casting method for food packaging applications. Five types of HNTs collected from different geological locations were reinforced PLA with three different HNTs concentrations (0, 5 and 10wt%). However, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of HNTs type and concentration on the thermal properties of PLA/HNTs nanocomposites. The thermal properties of PLA/HNTs nanocomposites were assessed by using thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The TGA measurements were performed at nitrogen atmosphere. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis indicated that the presence of HNT could promote the cold crystallisation of PLA which the crystallinity was slightly increased by the addition of HNTs, DG and UHP showed the lowest crystallisation temperatures. Thermogravimetric analysis data revealed that the thermal stability of PLA/HNTs depends on the amount of HNTs which demonstrated optimum thermal stabilities at 5wt% HNTs loading. In addition, it depends on HNTs type, DG and UHP exhibited high thermal stabilities compared to other HNTs types.
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