Investigation of mechanical recycling effect on structural, thermal, mechanical and electromagnetic properties of polylactic acid (PLA) – nanoclay nanocomposites: Towards a valorization of recycled PLA nanocomposites

Lakhdar SidiSalah;Danlée, Yann;Freddys Beltrán González;Huynen, Isabelle;María Ulagares de la Orden
(2023) Composites Part C: Open Access — Vol. 10, p. 100339 (2023)

Files

COMP_PARTC2023.pdf
  • Open Access
  • Adobe PDF
  • 2.97 MB
Download

Details

Authors
  • Lakhdar SidiSalah
    Author
  • Danlée, Yannorcid-logoUCLouvain
    Author
  • Freddys Beltrán González
    Author
  • Huynen, Isabelleorcid-logoUCLouvain
    Author
  • María Ulagares de la Orden
    Author
Abstract
Virgin and recycled poly(lactic acid) (PLA) based nanocomposite materials were obtained and subjected to microstructural, thermal and mechanical analysis in view of fabricating efficient microwave absorbers. PLA was first exposed to artificial accelerated aging, next was mechanically recycled through grinding followed by reprocessing using melt extrusion and compression molding, resulting in recycled PLA samples (rPLA). Addition of organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) as nanoclay was performed in a second melt extrusion process in order to obtain virgin and recycled PLA-OMMT nanocomposites. The impact of recycling process and presence of OMMT nanoclay in the host PLA matrix has been studied by FTIR, TGA and DSC, while the mechanical performance has been investigated by micro-hardness test. The dielectric properties were measured in the 26–40 GHz frequency range using a Vector Network Analyzer to assess the performance of virgin and recycled PLA and OMMT-PLA material as microwave absorbers. The FTIR results show that the recycling process generated more C = O groups in the polymer. These polar groups tend to orient themselves in the direction of the applied field and increase the dielectric constant (ε’). Measured electromagnetic absorption index revealed that rPLA-4OMMT with a thickness of 400 μm is able to absorb 20.3% on average of the spectrum with a peak of 36%, while 200 μm-thick films of rPLA-4 wt.% OMMT has a mean absorption index of 14.5%. The overall results show that mechanically recycled polymer can replace virgin polymer in this kind of applications.
Affiliations

Citations

  • APA
  • Chicago
  • FWB

Lakhdar SidiSalah, Danlée, Y., Freddys Beltrán González, Huynen, I., & María Ulagares de la Orden. (2023). Investigation of mechanical recycling effect on structural, thermal, mechanical and electromagnetic properties of polylactic acid (PLA) – nanoclay nanocomposites: Towards a valorization of recycled PLA nanocomposites. Composites Part C: Open Access, 10, 100339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomc.2022.100339 (Original work published 2023)