High surface area carbon black (BP-2000) as a reinforcing agent for poly[(₋)-lactide]

Journal Article · Wed Oct 26 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Applied Polymer Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/app.43926· OSTI ID:1328049

Delgado, Paula A. ^[1]; Brutman, Jacob P. ^[1]; Masica, Kristina ^[1]; Molde, Joseph ^[2]; Wood, Brandon ^[2]; Hillmyer, Marc A. ^[1]

---

1. Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Minnesota 55455
2. Biotechnology Department, University of Minnesota, St. Paul Minnesota 55108

We report that the brittle nature and low-heat distortion resistance of a promising biorenewable thermoplastics, poly((₋)-lactide) (PLA), motivate the investigation of strengthening additives that can address these deficiencies. Here in our work, a high surface area carbon black (BP-2000) as well as biobased carbon blacks (hydrochars) were examined as reinforcement agents for PLA. When 1–5 wt % BP-2000 was added to PLA, the crystallization of PLA was accelerated, resulting in higher crystallinity, tensile strength, and heat resistance. A thermal creep experiment revealed that the composites exhibited no significant deformation after 30 min with 2 N of uniaxial tensile force at 80°C (above the Tg), whereas neat PLA (with similar thermal history) elongated to 79% after 5 min under the same conditions. PLA–hydrochar composites demonstrated similar brittle behavior to neat PLA. Finally, despite the promising nucleating ability of hydrochars, they displayed low interfacial adhesion with PLA because of their low surface area, resulting in poor energy transfer on stretching

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Science Foundation (NSF)
• OSTI ID: 1328049
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 133, Issue 45; ISSN 0021-8995
• Publisher: Wiley
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH