Abstract

To maintain performance of polymer composite materials (PCM) in tropical climate, it is necessary and relevant to dealwith biodegradation among other factors. Increasing strength and improvement of biodegradation resistance of polymercomposites simultaneously is a critical practical challenge. State-of-the-art methods of polymer composites productiondo not provide a possibility to address both issues at the same time. In this study, it is the first time when a method toincrease strength of ED-20 epoxy-based polymer composite and improve its biodegradation resistance simultaneously isapplied. In this study, the authors applied for the first time polylactide-capsulated copper oxide particles to improvebiocidal and mechanical performance of ED-20 epoxy-based polymer composite. It was established that composite filledwith capsulated particles has better resistance to micromycete-induced damage compared to the one filled with noncapsulated particles. Reduction of surface area affected by micromycetes isolated from samples exposed to tropicalconditions was demonstrated for the composite that contained capsulated particles. The paper highlights that prevalenceof Aspergillus niger is based on the high productivity of organic acids. It was found that elasticity moduli of polymercomposite samples do not have significant differences. The average elasticity modulus of PCM samples was3.4 ± 0.2 GPa before and after exposure to tropical conditions. Apparently, the thing that elasticity modulus remained thesame after exposure to tropical conditions was due to the fact that only surface of the sample was subject to destruction.The samples with non-capsulated particles experienced 20% decrease in ultimate strength after exposure to tropicalconditions while the samples with capsulated particles experienced only 10% decrease, so the material with capsulatedparticles was stronger. The fact that the elastic moduli of samples with capsulated particles remain the same afterexposure to the microbial destructors indicates improved resistance of new PCM to biodegradation and confirmspromising practical application of the created material. Thus, this article is the first one to demonstrate that application ofpolylactide-capsulated copper oxide particles in combination with ED-20 epoxy-based polymer provides a possibility toobtain a new composite with improved biocidal effect.

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The article was added to IASJ on 2023-11-06

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