Nor Azowa Ibrahim

A Comparative Study on the Mechanical, Thermal and Morphological Characterization of Poly(lactic acid)/Epoxidized Palm Oil Blend

In this work, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) a fully biodegradable thermoplastic polymer matrix was melt blended with three different epoxidized palm oil (EPO). The aim of this research was to enhance the flexibility, mechanical and thermal properties of PLA. The blends were prepared at various EPO contents of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 wt% and characterized. The SEM analysis evidenced successful modification on the neat PLA brittle morphology. Tensile tests indicate that the addition of 1 wt% EPO is sufficient to improve the strength and flexibility compared to neat PLA. Additionally, the flexural and impact properties were also enhanced. Further, DSC analysis showed that the addition of EPO results in a decrease in Tg, which implies an increase in the PLA chain mobility. In the presence of 1 wt% EPO, TGA results revealed significant increase in the thermal stability by 27%. Among the three EPOs used, EPO(3) showed the best mechanical and thermal properties compared to the other EPO’s, with an optimum loading of 1 wt%. Conclusively, EPO showed a promising outcome to overcome the brittleness and improve the overall properties of neat PLA, thus can be considered as a potential plasticizer.

Poly(Lactic Acid) as a Biopolymer-Based Nano-Composite

Petrochemical-based polymer technology has created a lot of benefits to soceity. One of these benefits is the use of plastics in packaging. The most important factors determining rapid growth in the use of plastics in packaging industries are convenience, safety, low price and good aesthetic qualities. However, petrochemical-based polymers are produced from fossil fuel, consumed and discarded into the environment, ending up as undegradable waste. Increasing undegradable wastes are significantly disturbing and damaging the environment. Environmental specialists do not have a clear answer about dealing with these undegradable wastes yet. Incineration of these wastes produces large amounts of carbon dioxide that will contribute to global warming.

Thermal and mechanical properties of palm oil-based polyurethane acrylate/clay nanocomposites prepared by in-situ intercalative method and electron beam radiation

Palm oil based-polyurethane acrylate (POBUA)/clay nanocomposites were prepared via in-situ intercalative polymerization using epoxidized palm oil acrylate (EPOLA) and 4,4 methylene diphenyl diisocyante (MDI). Organically modified Montmorillonite (ODA-MMT) was incorporated in EPOLA (1, 3 and 5%wt), and then subjected to polycondensation reaction with MDI. Nanocomposites solid films were obtained successfully by electron beam radiation induced free radical polymerization (curing). FTIR results reveal that the prepolymer was obtained successfully, with nanoclay dispersed in the matrix. The intercalation of the clay in the polymer matrix was investigated by XRD and the interlayer spacing of clay was found to be increased up to 37 A, while the structure morphology of the nanocomposites was investigated by TEM and SEM. The nanocomposites were found to be a mixture of exfoliated and intercalated morphologies. The thermal stability of the nanocomposites was significantly increased by incorporation of nanoclay in...

Fatty hydrazides modified clay for polylactide/polycaprolactone (PLA/PCL) nanocomposite preparation

Fatty hydrazides (FH) synthesized from palm oil functions was use to modify the nature of natrium montmorillonite (Na-MMT). The 90% and 10% of polylactide (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) polymer was chosen respectively to mixing with the modified clay to produce PLA/PCL-FHMMT. The others sample was prepared which is PLA/PCL was blend with Na-MMT to produce PLA/PCL-NaMMT as a comparison. To characterize the polymer nanocomposite, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), derivative thermalgravimetry (DTG) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis were conducted. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated the intercalation of the PLA/PCL into silicate nanosize interlayers for the nanocomposites. The presence of modified clays in nanocomposite was confirmed by FTIR spectrum and TEM micrograph.