Polylactide/clay nanocomposites: A fresh look into the in situ polymerization process

摘要

Polylactide nanocomposites with organo-modified montmorillonite presenting a high degree of clay exfoliation were prepared via in situ polymerization by using an improved methodology. The morphology of the nanocomposites was studied by WAXD and SAXS. The size distribution of clay aggregates in the polylactide matrices was quantitatively determined by SAXS applying the stacked-disk model. The analyses show high degree of delamination of the silicate yielding exfoliated polylactide nanocomposites even at high concentration of clay (>10 wt %). L-lactide conversions measured by ATR-FTIR were determined to be no less than 94% after 3 h of reaction in all polymerizations. DSC measurements were performed to study the influence of the clay content on the thermal behavior of the prepared nanocomposites.