Last modified: 2018-07-19
Abstract
Hygrothermal degradation is one of environmental aging process which combines the effects of both moisture and temperature; leading to irreversible changes in the molecular structure, chemical and mechanical properties of polymers [1]. So it is crucial to study the degradation mechanism and to predict the service life of materials. Among the biodegradable polymers, Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) which is a bacterial polyester belonging to the polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) family was developed primarily as a renewable and biodegradable replacement material for petroleum-derived plastic [2]. It is widely exploited in consumer markets, especially in food packaging and biomedical applications [3]. The use of organomodified montmorillonite such as Cloisite 30B to reinforce the functional properties of PHBV can affect the inherent hydrophilicity of the polymers and subsequently the mechanisms of degradation. Therefore, the objective of this work was to investigate the effects of Cloisite 30B (3 wt%) on the morphology and thermal and mechanical properties of bionanocomposite based PHBV under hygrothermal ageing. The property changes of the aged samples were evaluated by several techniques, involving size exclusion chromatography (SEC), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and tensile tests.
Keywords: Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), bionanocomposites, Hygrothermal aging.