Microcellular poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate)-hyperbranched polymer-nanoclay nanocomposites

Alireza Javadi, Yottha Srithep, Srikanth Pilla, Craig C. Clemons, Shaoqin Gong*, Lih Sheng Turng

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effects of incorporating hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) and different nanoclays [Cloisite® 30B and halloysite nanotubes (HNT)] on the mechanical, morphological, and thermal properties of solid and microcellular poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) were investigated. According to the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses, Cloisite 30B exhibited a combination of exfoliation and heterogeneous intercalation structure for both solid and microcellular PHBV-12% HBP-2% Cloisite 30B nanocomposites. TEM images indicated that HNTs were uniformly dispersed throughout the PHBV matrix. The addition of 2% nanoclays improved the thermal stability of the resulting nanocomposites. The addition of HBP+poly(maleic anhydride-alt-1-octadecene) (PA), Cloisite 30B, and HNT reduced the average cell size and increased the cell density of the microcellular components. The addition of (HBP+PA), Cloisite 30B, and HNT also increased the degree of crystallinity for both solid and microcellular components in comparison with neat PHBV. Also, with the addition of 12% (HBP+PA), the area under the tan-δ curve, specific toughness, and strain-at-break of the PHBV-HBP nanocomposite increased significantly for both solid and microcellular specimens, whereas the storage modulus, specific Young's modulus, and specific tensile strength decreased. The addition of 2% nanoclays into the PHBV-HBP nanocomposites improved the storage modulus, specific Young's modulus, and specific tensile strength of the PHBV-HBP-nanoclay-based nanocomposites, but they were still lower than those of the neat PHBV. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1815-1826
Number of pages12
JournalPolymer Engineering and Science
Volume51
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - 09 2011
Externally publishedYes

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