Enhanced thermal, mechanical and electromagnetic interference shielding properties of graphene nanoplatelets-reinforced poly(lactic acid)/poly(ethylene oxide) nanocomposites. (December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zeng, Qianqian; Du, Ziran; Qin, Chenyuan; Wang, Yaming; Liu, Chuntai; Shen, Changyu
• Is Part Of: Materials today communications. Volume 25(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Subjects: Poly(lactic acid)/poly(ethylene oxide) blends -- Graphene nanoplatelets -- Mechanical properties -- Thermal stability -- Electromagnetic interference shielding; Materials science -- Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2020.101632
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-4928

Abstract

Highlights: The nanocomposites were prepared by melt-blending PLA with PEO/GNPs mixtures. GNPs enhanced the thermal stability and mechanical properties of PLA/PEO blend. The incorporation of GNPs improved the EMI SE of PLA/PEO blend. PEO accelerated PLA crystallization while the effect of nanofillers was opposite. Abstract: Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) were studied as a novel nanofiller of miscible poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blend matrix. The adding level of GNPs varied from 0 to 15 wt%. PLA was blended with PEO to enhance its flexibility, while further incorporation of GNPs was aimed at improving the rigidity, thermal stability and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding properties of PLA/PEO blends. Rheological results and scanning electron micrographs revealed that a percolating 3-dimesional network within the PLA/PEO matrix was formed when the GNPs content above 6 wt%. The addition of 15 wt% GNPs into PLA/PEO matrix led to an increase of 247 % and 83 % in tensile modulus and strength, respectively, while the elongation at break was still at an acceptable value of 82.1 %. Moreover, the initial degradation temperature ( T d5 ) increased by 31.9 °C. In addition, the incorporation of GNPs enhanced significantly the EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of PLA/PEO blend matrix. Compared with PLA/PEO nanocomposites with 6 wt% GNPs, further addition of 1 wt% carbon nanotubes (CNTs) improved remarkably the thermal, mechanical, electricity and EMI SE of the materials. The effect of PEO and nanofillers on the crystallization behavior of PLA was also addressed.