Thermo-physical behaviors of carbon nanofiber reinforced polylactic acid
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Thermo-physical behaviors of carbon nanofiber reinforced polylactic acid Ananta Raj Adhikari1, Kamal Sarkar2 and Karen Lozano2 1 Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX-77004 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX78541 ABSTRACT: Studies have demonstrated that the reinforcement of polymeric matrices using nanofiller can results with better thermo-physical properties of polymer. Carbon nanofiber (CNF) is a unique quasi-one dimensional nanostructure with large numbers of edges and defects compared to carbon nanotube (CNT). Further the availability in large quantity along with lower cost makes them an important nanomaterial for future technology. We have previously used CNF in different thermoplastic polymers. In this study CNFs were used with water soluble thermoplastic aliphatic polyster polylactic acid (PLA) and studied their thermal and mechanical properties. Thermal analysis using Thermogravimetric Analysis showed enhanced thermal stability of the polymer at higher nanotube loading (>1 wt%) and decrease of thermal stability at higher loading (>10 wt%). Crystallization thermogram of PLA was modified heavily with the addition of nanofibers changing clearly from one stage to two stage crystallization. In addition, CNF facilitates the crystallization of PLA resulting in an increase of its crystallization. The mechanical testing showed the steady increase of modulus of the composites with the nanofiber content within the range of study which can be regarded as due to the change in interface property of the composites. INTRODUCTION: The use of polymers has been extensively increased in the 21st century. Degradation behavior of these polymers is important in regard to maintaining eco-safe environment. In an attempt to search for materials within a perspective of eco-design, several polymers were developed known as bio-based polymers which are degradable, carbon free, and reusable. This will largely contribute to save the earth from being run-out of oil reserve. Some of the well known biopolymers are Poly(vinyl alcohol), Poly(butylene succinate), Polylactic acid, and Starch-based bioplastics. These biodegradable polyesters possess many promising properties suitable in various industries such as packaging, biomedical, and textile etc. In order to compete with the non-biodegradable polymers, a new class of materials known as biopolymer nanocomposites has been of interest in the academia and industries. These hybrid materials possess improved properties that are not possible from either of the phase alone. A numbers of different fillers were studied in biopolymers such as clay minerals, nanoparticles, and carbon nanotubes. Medical application of nanocomposites such as biopolymer clay composites has been sought tremendously as a carrier for drug delivery and tissue generation. Wang et al.,1 studied chitosan/montmorillonite nanocomposites prepared by hot intercalation method. The drug encapsulation efficiency has shown increased with the addition of
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