Study on Rheology, Morphology and Mechanical Properties of PLA/Nanoclay Nanocomposites

In this research, nanocomposites of polylactic acid (PLA)/nanoclay (NC) containing 1–3 wt% of Cloisite 30B were prepared via melt mixing. The mechanical properties, rheology and morphology of resulted nanocomposites were studied. It was observed that the addition of nanoclays led to increase in modulus and tensile strength and decrease in the impact resistance of the neat PLA. The maximum increase in tensile strength was 33% corresponded to sample containing 3 wt% of Cloisite 30B. X-ray diffraction results showed an increase in the interlayer spacing of Cloisite 30B, which indicates the intercalation of this nanoparticle in the PLA matrix. Rheological assessments on nanocomposites containing Cloisite 30B displayed that the elastic modulus, loss modulus and complex viscosity of poly lactic acid were increased by increasing the amount of nanoclay and this increase is much higher at lower frequencies.