Preparation, structure and thermal properties of polylactide/sepiolite nanocomposites with and without organic modifiers

Polylactide-based nanocomposites containing unmodified and organic modified sepiolite were prepared through a solution casting method. The structure and properties of materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FUR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). From the results it can be concluded that the bundles of sepiolite have been dispersed into small aggregates containing several nanorods without destroying the crystal structure. Sepiolite nanofibers were well dispersed in the PLA matrix, exhibiting a randomly orientation with the contact among them in all cases. But the thermal stability of nanocomposites has been improved more by introducing unmodified sepiolite than that with organic modified sepiolite, which has also been confirmed by molecular dynamics simulation results that hydrophobic parts of organic modifiers could prevent the interaction between PLA molecules and sepiolite surface. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.