Syed Mustafa S.N.I., Che Man S.H., Hassan A., Baharulrazi N., Mohamad Z., 2021, Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Polylactic Acid/Liquid Epoxidized Natural Rubber/Graphene Oxide Composites, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 89, 439-444.
Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the biodegradable polymer that is widely used in many applications to replace petroleum-based polymer. Despite the advantages of PLA, its disadvantages such as poor toughness and brittleness restrict the usage of PLA. The purpose of this study is to improve the properties of PLA by blending with liquid epoxidized natural rubber (LENR) and graphene oxide (GO). Two different samples were prepared which were PLA/LENR/GO and PLA/GO grafted LENR (PLA/GO-g-LENR) composites. GO-g-LENR was prepared by using grafting method. The materials were blended by using Brabender internal mixer with rotor speed of 60 rpm at 160 °C. The GO content was varied from 1, 3 and 5 phr while the composition of LENR was fixed at 10 wt%. After blending, the compound was compressed into a plate under hot pressing machine then was cut according to ASTM D256 for characterization. The properties of the composites were investigated in term of mechanical, thermal and morphological aspects. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis was used to confirm the efficiency of grafting method. The addition of 1 phr GO using GO-g-LENR into PLA composite showed the highest impact strength which is 96.02 J/m while 1 phr GO without grafting increased the impact strength from 86.05 J/m to 91.42 J/m. Thermal analysis study by TGA indicated that addition of GO into the composite system has improved its thermal stability. Morphological study revealed that 1 phr GO has better dispersion in PLA/LENR matrix compared to 3 phr GO.
