Enhanced ductility and tensile properties of hybrid montmorillonite/cellulose nanowhiskers reinforced polylactic acid nanocomposites

• Main Authors: Arjmandi, Reza, Hassan, Azman, Eichhorn, Stephen J., Mohamad Haafiz, M. K., Zakaria, Zainoha, Tanjung, Faisal Amri
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer 2015
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/55011/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-8873-8

Montmorillonite (MMT)/cellulose nanowhiskers (CNW) reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) hybrid nanocomposites were prepared by solution casting. CNW were isolated from microcrystalline cellulose using a chemical swelling method. An initial study showed that the optimum MMT content, for mechanical properties, in a PLA/MMT nanocomposite is five parts per hundred parts of polymer (phr). Various amounts of CNW were added to the optimum formulation of PLA/MMT to produce PLA/ MMT/CNW hybrid nanocomposites. FT-IR analysis indicated the formation of some polar interactions, resulting in enhanced tensile properties of the hybrid nanocomposites. The highest tensile strength for the hybrid nanocomposites was obtained for a 1 phr CNW content. Young’s modulus was also found to increase with an increasing CNW content. Interestingly, the strain to failure (or ductility) of the hybrid nanocomposites increased significantly from ~10 to ~90% with the addition of 1 phr CNW. This increase in ductility was proposed to be due to the nucleation of crazes and the formation of shear bands in the PLA.