Study of Mechanical, Thermal and Barrier Properties of Biodegradable Polylactic acid-Polyethylene Glycol- Alumina Nanocomposite

Abstract

Tensile , thermal, and barrier properties of polylactide PLA-based nanocomposite films that were prepared by solvent casting method with polyethylene glycol (PEG), and alumina were studied. PLA/PEG blend showed decrease in tensile strength and Young modulus but increased in elongation in PLA/PEG and increased in crystalline of PLA but decrease in glass transition temperature with the increasing of PEG concentration . A nano blend composites of PLA/PEG/alumina (50/50/4) when compared to PLA/PEG blend indicated that tensile strength , Young modulus and glass transition temperature (Tg) increased with adding alumina nano particles, concentration and barrier properties improvement due to its nucleating and reinforcing function mineral when add nano alumina to PLA/PEG blend . These results indicated that the incorporation of Al2O3 enhanced the Oxygen barrier properties of the PLA.