Characterization of polylactic acid/microcrystalline cellulose/montmorillonite hybrid composites | Pencirian komposit polilaktik asid/selulosa mikrohablur/ hibrid montmorilonit

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of montmorillonite (MMT)/microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) hybrid fillers on mechanical properties and morphological characteristics of polylactic acid (PLA) composites. PLA/MMT nanocomposites and PLA/MMT/MCC hybrid composites were prepared by solution casting method. Morphology and tensile properties of PLA composites were investigated using Field emission scanning electron microscopy and Instron tensile testing machine. The maximum tensile strength of PLA/MMT nanocomposites was obtained with 5 phr contents of MMT, which corresponding to 30.75 MPa. Based on optimized formulation of PLA/MMT nanocomposites (5 phr MMT contents), various amounts of MCC (0 to 7 phr) were added into optimum formulation of PLA/MMT in order to produce PLA/MMT/MCC hybrid composites. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed some level of interaction between PLA and both MMT and MCC in the hybrid composites. However, the percent elongation at break of the hybrid composites was generally higher than PLA/MMT nanocomposites. Additionally, Young’s modulus of the PLA/MMT/MCC hybrid composites increased gradually with increasing of MCC contents and was higher than PLA/MMT at all compositions. The present results are the first among a series of experiments that have been designed in order to probe the effect of MMT and MCC in the PLA.