Abstract
Biodegradable nanocomposites were fabricated with poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and Nanomer$^{(R)}$ I.44P using ultrasonication (US). Processing conditions were optimized to obtain the maximum tensile properties of the nanocomposites. Poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) was used as a plasticizer to avoid the brittleness of nanocompsoties. In order to disperse nanoclay into the PLA matrix, PEG and Nanomer$^{(R)}$ I.44P were firstly mixed and dispersed in the chloroform and followed by ultrasonication for 1 min With 10% PEG 400, tensile stress and Young's modulus of the nanocomposites decreased from 53.5 MPa and 2225 MPa to 37.0 MPa and 1757 MPa, respectively, while the elongation was increased from 4% to 21%. Tensile stress, Young's modulus, and elongation of nanocomposites were also increased with nanoclay concentration up to 2% (w/w) and were decreased with further increase in the nanoclay concentration. Transmittance of nanocomposites were significantly decreased from 62.5% for pure PLA film to 7.8% for 5% nanoclay containing nanocomposites. Water vapor permeability of the nanocomposites was also significantly decreased with nanoclay concentration and the minimum WVP of $3.5{\times}10^{-11}g{\cdot}m/m^2{\cdot}s{\cdot}Pa$ was obtained with 5% (w/w) nanoclay concentration. The PLA/Nanomer$^{(R)}$ I.44P nanocomposites showed a great potential as a environmental friendly food packaging material.
PLA와 nanoclay인 Nanomer$^{(R)}$ I.44P를 이용한 환경 친화적인 nanocomposites을 개발하였다. PLA/Nanomer$^{(R)}$ I.44P nanocomposites의 상온 건조 후 잔존하는 용매를 제거하기 위해 진공건조를 하였으며, 진공건조 시간이 8시간 까지는 신장율이 크게 감소하였으며, 그 이후에는 유의적인 차이가 없었다. Nanoclay가 PLA matrix내에서 균일하게 분산시키기 위해 초음파 처리를 하였으며, 초음파 처리시간이 5분까지는 인장강도 및 영모듈러스가 증가하는 경향을 보였으나 5분 이상의 초음파 처리에서는 시간이 증가함에 따라 인장 특성도 점차 감소하였고, 특히 15분 이상 초음파 처리를 하였을 때에는 nanoclay가 뭉치는 현상이 관찰 되었다. Nanoclay의 양이 증가할수록 nanocomposites의 가시광선 영역에서의 투과성(trasmittance)은 62.5%에서 7.8%로 크게 감소하였다. Water vapor permeability (WVP)는 nanoclay의 첨가량에 따라 감소하는 경향을 보이며, 5%의 nanoclay 첨가 시 $3.5{\times}10^{-11}g{\cdot}m/m^2{\cdot}s{\cdot}Pa$로 control에 비해 약 43%가 감소하였다.