%0 Journal Article
%T Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate/Poly(butyleneadipate-co-terephthalate)/Layered Double Hydroxide Nanocomposites
%A Yen Leng Pak
%A Mansor Bin Ahmad
%A Kamyar Shameli
%A Wan Md Zin Wan Yunus
%A Nor Azowa Ibrahim
%A Norhazlin Zainuddin
%J Journal of Nanomaterials
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/621097
%X Nanocomposites of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate/poly(butyleneadipate-co-terephthalate)/layered double hydroxide (PHB/PBAT/LDH) were prepared from a binary blend of PHB/PBAT and stearate-Zn3Al LDH via a solution casting method using chloroform as solvent in this study. The pristine Zn3Al LDH was synthesized from nitrate salts solution at pH 7 by using coprecipitation technique and then was modified by stearate anions surfactant via ion exchange reaction. As a result, the basal spacing of the LDH was increased from 8.77 to 24.94£¿£¿ after the modification. Intercalated nanocomposites were formed due to the presence of diffraction peak in XRD diffractograms. The infrared spectrum of stearate-Zn3Al LDH exhibited the existence of stearate anions in the synthesized Zn3Al LDH. Mechanical properties with 2£¿wt% stearate-Zn3Al LDH loading nanocomposites showed 56£¿wt% improvements in elongation at break compared to those of the blend. 1. Introduction Great contributions have been made by introducing polymers into the market to enhance the grade of living and lifestyle. Plastics are being used throughout the world. Plastics are extremely important to the job market especially packaging field. Production of ecofriendly plastics that are more compatible with the environment is needed since plastics created ecological concern due to the lack of deprivation. Therefore, biodegradable plastics began being of sparking interest. Creating of biodegradable materials draw high attention as oil prices increased and they are considered to assist in reducing the waste issue. Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is produced by controlled bacterial fermentation [1]. It is a high melting temperature and a high degree of crystallinity of semicrystalline polymer. It is not soluble in water and 100% biodegraded. PHB has a few points of weakness that limited its applications such as inefficient and high cost of the fermentation and extraction process, poor mechanical properties, and poor formability. Cracking and brittleness properties of PHB are because of the large spherulites in its structure. Efforts have been made by worldwide researchers to overcome those problems and to improve different properties. The most cost effective and generally used method is blending of PHB with another kind of polymers, [2¨C5] such as starch, polycaprolactone (PCL), poly (vinyl acetate) (PVAc), and cellulose derivatives which have been studied to modify the properties and expand its practical application [6¨C8]. Poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) is eco-friendly polymers which totally biodegraded with the
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/2013/621097/