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Herein, glass fiber (GF) reinforced binary, ternary, and quaternary poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composites were prepared. Toughening, and chain extension of PLA was achieved through the incorporation of impact modifier and chain extender and their concurrent effects on the spectroscopic, crystallization, mechanical, thermal, and thermomechanical properties of the composites were investigated. High mechanical properties of GF influenced the mechanical performance of the composites. However, GF alone could not restrict the chain mobility of PLA due to poor interface and low crystallization activities in the PLA‐GF composite. Incorporation of impact modifier and chain extender produced significantly enhanced interaction between GF and PLA. Significantly, the crystallinity, impact strength, and flexural modulus of PLA in the quaternary composite were increased by 58%, 63%, and 66%, respectively. In addition, damping and effectiveness coefficient of the PLA‐GF composite were notably reduced by the simultaneous impact modification and chain extension of the reinforced composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we report the effect of nanofillers and filler loading on mechanical, physical, dielectric, and thermal properties of the crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) matrix. XLPE filled with 0.5–2% of zinc oxide (ZnO), aluminium oxide (Al2O3), and organoclay (OMMT) nanofillers prepared by melt mixing with a single screw extruder followed by hot press moulding. Nanocomposites were tested as per ASTM standard methods and characterized with tensile test, water absorption, linear rate of burning, dielectric breakdown strength, and thermal stability. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the surface morphology of the nanocomposites. The results showed that addition of nanofillers improved tensile strength, elongation at break, Young's modulus, burning rate, dielectric breakdown strength, and decomposition temperature. However, water absorption increased with time due to the hydrophilic properties of nanofillers. In general, based on the properties measured Al2O3 exhibits the highest properties than those of ZnO and OMMT nanofillers. Addition of 1.5% of Al2O3 in XLPE matrix has led to the improvement in tensile strength, elongation at break, Young's modulus, burning rate, and dielectric breakdown strength as compared to the unfilled polymer. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 25:E147–E154, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]