RT Journal Article
T1 Effects of Aging and Different Mechanical Recycling Processes on the Structure and Properties of Poly(lactic acid)-clay Nanocomposites
A1 Beltrán González, Freddys
A1 Ortega, E.
A1 Solvoll, A. M.
A1 Lorenzo Esteban, Vicente
A1 Orden Hernández, María Ulagares de la
A1 Martínez Urreaga, Joaquín
AB The growing use of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and PLA-based nanocomposites in packaging has raised the interest of studying the mechanical recycling of the wastes and the properties of the recycled materials. The main objective of this work was to study the effect of two different mechanical recycling processes on the structure and properties of a PLA-montmorillonite nanocomposite. The two recycling processes included accelerated thermal and photochemical aging steps to simulate the degradation experienced by post-consumer plastics during their service life. One of them also included a demanding washing process prior to the reprocessing. A decrease in the molecular weight of PLA was observed in the recycled materials, especially in those subjected to the washing step, which explained the small decrease in microhardness and the increased water uptake at long immersion times. Water absorption at short immersion times was similar in virgin and recycled materials and was accurately described using a Fickian model. The recycled materials showed increased thermal, optical and gas barrier properties due to the improved clay dispersion that was observed by XRD and TEM analysis. The results suggest that recycled PLA-clay nanocomposites can be used in demanding applications.
PB Springer Verlag
SN 1566-2543
YR 2017
FD 2017-09-21
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/18124
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/18124
LA eng
NO The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10924-017-1117-z
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España (MINECO)
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid (España)
NO Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (España
NO Ecoembes
DS Docta Complutense
RD 29 abr 2024