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. 2018 Apr 17;11(4):613.
doi: 10.3390/ma11040613.

Injection Molding and Mechanical Properties of Bio-Based Polymer Nanocomposites

Maria Chiara Mistretta  1 , Luigi Botta  2 , Marco Morreale  3 , Sebastiano Rifici  4 , Manuela Ceraulo  5 , Francesco Paolo La Mantia  6
Affiliations

Injection Molding and Mechanical Properties of Bio-Based Polymer Nanocomposites

Maria Chiara Mistretta et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

The use of biodegradable/bio-based polymers is of great importance in addressing several issues related to environmental protection, public health, and new, stricter legislation. Yet some applications require improved properties (such as barrier or mechanical properties), suggesting the use of nanosized fillers in order to obtain bio-based polymer nanocomposites. In this work, bionanocomposites based on two different biodegradable polymers (coming from the Bioflex and MaterBi families) and two different nanosized fillers (organo-modified clay and hydrophobic-coated precipitated calcium carbonate) were prepared and compared with traditional nanocomposites with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as matrix. In particular, the injection molding processability, as well as the mechanical and rheological properties of the so-obtained bionanocomposites were investigated. It was found that the processability of the two biodegradable polymers and the related nanocomposites can be compared to that of the HDPE-based systems and that, in general, the bio-based systems can be taken into account as suitable alternatives.

Keywords: biodegradable polymers; injection molding; nanocomposites; processing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Rheological curves of the three polymers.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Rheological curves of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) without and with a nanofiller; (b) rheological curves of MaterBi without and with a nanofiller; (c) rheological curves of Bioflex without and with a nanofiller.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Rheological curves of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) without and with a nanofiller; (b) rheological curves of MaterBi without and with a nanofiller; (c) rheological curves of Bioflex without and with a nanofiller.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Rheological curves of the different CL20A-containing nanocomposites; (b) Rheological curves of the different S312-containing nanocomposites.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Elastic modulus of compression-molded (CM) and injection-molded (IM) samples. (b) Tensile strength of compression-molded (CM) and injection-molded (IM) samples. (c) Elongation at break of compression-molded (CM) and injection-molded (IM) samples; (PE = HDPE, B = Bioflex, MB = MaterBi, S = calcium carbonate, CL = clay).
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Elastic modulus of compression-molded (CM) and injection-molded (IM) samples. (b) Tensile strength of compression-molded (CM) and injection-molded (IM) samples. (c) Elongation at break of compression-molded (CM) and injection-molded (IM) samples; (PE = HDPE, B = Bioflex, MB = MaterBi, S = calcium carbonate, CL = clay).
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) SEM fracture surfaces of B-CM sample; (b) SEM fracture surfaces of B-IM sample.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) SEM fracture surfaces of B+CL-CM sample; (b) SEM fracture surfaces of B+CL-IM sample.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(a) SEM fracture surfaces of B+S-CM sample; (b) SEM fracture surfaces of B+S-IM sample.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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