Polylactide /clay properties

Solarski, S., Mahjoubi, F., Ferreira, M., Devaux, E., Bachelet, P, Bourbigot, S., Delobel, R., Murariu, M., Da Silva Ferreira, A., Alexandre, M., Degee, P, and Dubois, P. 2007. (Plasticized) Polylactide/ clay nanocomposite textile Thermal, mechanical, shrinkage and fire properties. J. Mater. Sci., 42(13) 5105-5117. 

Pluta, M., Paul, M.A., Alexandre, M., Dubois, P. Plasticized polylactide/clay nanocomposites. I. the role of filler content and its surface organo-modification on the physico-chemical properties. J. Polym. Sci., Part B Polym. Phys. 44, 299-311 (2006)... 

Meng QK, Heuzey MC, Carreau PJ. Effects of a multifunctional polymeric chain extender on the properties of polylactide and polylactide/clay nanocomposites. Int Polym Process 2012 27 505-516. 

Montmorillonite (MMT), a smectite clay, is probably the most extensively studied nanomaterial in terms of mechanical, thermal, fire retardant or crystallization behavior of polylactide, especially when these nanoparticles are organically modified allowing the achievement of intercalated and exfoliated nanocomposites.These nanocomposites show enhanced properties as compared to microcomposites and pristine polymer. However, biodegradation and hydrolytic degradation of PLA in the presence of nanoclays has been investigated to a small extent. 

Ojijo et al. [36-38] worked on immiscible blends of polylactide (PLA) and poly[(butylenes succinate)-co-adipate] (PBSA) while investigating the properties of the blends with and without nanoparticles. For example, without nanoparticles, the addition of PBSA to PLA matrix led to an increase in the crystallinity from 2.9% for sample without PBSA to 32% for blends with a 30 0 wt% PBSA load. Any further increase in the amount of PBS A led to decreased crystallinity of PLA. The increase was believed to be caused by the presence of PBS A in the blend. On addition of clay as nanoparticles to the blends, the crystallization process was limited due to the presence of the clay particles, although, the percentage crystallinity was not quantitatively evaluated. 

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