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Polybutylene succinate (PBS) with bentonite was investigated for its rheological, thermal and water absorption properties. The bentonite (BTN) was modified with soybean oil (SBO) and lard oil (LO) (2:98 clay: oil % by weight) by mechanical stirring and ultrasonication. The composites were prepared using an internal mixer and processed by compression molding. Under the bentonite modification conditions, XRD showed that the bentonite layers were penetrated with edible oils into the small layers and the enhancement of d-spacing between the BTN-layers in the composites. A small platelet-like structure of the modified bentonite composites was observed by SEM micrographs. The increase in MFI of untreated bentonite displayed the viscosity of PBS involving the moisture and water molecules decreased the frictional force. In addition, the viscosity of composites between PBS and treated bentonite with LO represented in an increase of the MFI value. Regarding the thermal properties, the presence of bentonite could act as a nucleating agent for PBS at low content (1-2%). Moreover, the treated with edible oils of bentonite could increase the percentage crystallinity of PBS at higher bentonite content. The presence of bentonite tends to increase the water absorption behavior of PBS/bentonite composites.

Composites of a biodegradable thermoplastic aliphatic polyester, polybutylene succinate (PBS), with bentonite were investigated for morphological and mechanical properties. The bentonite was modified with soybean oil (SBO) and lard oil (LO) (2:98 clay:oil % by weight) by mechanical stirring and ultrasonication. The PBS/modified bentonite composite was prepared by using an internal mixer and processed by compression molding. Under bentonite modification conditions, XRD and SEM showed that the bentonite layers were broken into small layers, and the d-spacing between the layers was increased by edible oil molecules. A small plate like structure of modified bentonite composite was observed by SEM micrograph, which revealed short and long layer silicate structure non-directionally throughout the matrix phase. The mechanical properties of PBS were reinforced by this structure. The tensile modulus and elongation at break seem to depend on its directional bentonite. Interestingly, considerable improvement in impact strength was observed at over 2 wt% of clay. The impact strengths of PBS, PBS/modified BTN with SBO composite, and PBS/modified BTN with LO composite were increased from 1 to 1.5 and 2 kJ/m2, respectively. Comparatively, using LO modified bentonite had a better performance for increased interlayer and resulted in higher impact strength of the composite than that of SBO composite. The results demonstrated that PBS/modified bentonite using edible oil could be a potential alternative low cost, eco-friendly material with superior impact properties useful for further applications.

In this paper, the composites between polylactic acid (PLA) and eggshell powder (ESP) from the chicken shell were prepared by melt blending method in the internal mixer and then injection molded to produce the bio-composite specimen. The effect of the ESP concentration in the composites was investigated on the mechanical and thermal behaviors. The results indicated that the tensile strength and elongation decreased with increased ESP loading. Furthermore, the impact strength was not altered for PLA filled system with 10-30% of ESP. At the 10%wt of ESP in the PLA-composites was not significantly different of the onset (Tonset) and maximum degradation temperature (Td) from neat PLA but at higher ESP loading, Tonset and Td tend to decrease, therefore ESP could be able to accelerate degradation in the composites. The cold crystallization (Tcc) showed decreasing when the ESP was incorporate about 10-30 %wt. Otherwise, the incorporation of ESP affected on the declination of crystallinity in the PLA composites. The morphology, size and elements were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with an energy dispersive X-ray system (EDX). It was indicated that agglomeration of ESP in the PLA matrix.

The effect of compatibilizer agent was studied when adding Aluminum fine powder (Al) to reinforce in Polypropylene (PP) by compared between polymer matrix composites (PMCs) and PMCs added Polypropylene graft maleic anhydride (PP-g-MAH).The average particle size of the aluminum fine powder was around 75 μm filled in polypropylene with different proportions of 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10wt%. PMCs were prepared using the internal mixer. The results found that when the amount of aluminum fine powder increased, the mechanical properties had changed, i.e., tensile strength, and Young’s Modulus increased, while the impact strength and elongation at break decreased. But, when adding compatibilizer 1wt% it was found that the trend of tensile strength, and Young’s Modulus increased that compared with non-compatibilizer, but the impact strength and elongation at break decreased. The part of the morphology of PMCs with non-compatibilizer was found that the particle of aluminum fine powder dispersed in the matrix phase, but there were many microvoids between filler and matrix. But, PMCs with compatibilizer caused the microvoids between filler and matrix to be reduced.

This research aimed to study the environmental stabilization for bio-composites. The weight content of eggshell powder (ESP) was set 5% by weight into the polylactic acid (PLA) matrix. Two natural colors of Sappan wood (red color) and Jackfruit tree (yellow color) were dyed into ESP. PLA was compounded with ESP and natural color dyed of ESP in the internal mixer and fabricated by injection molding. The specimens were tested light-radiation exposure to Rayong’s climate for 15 and 30 days. The physical changes in color, functional group analysis, and mechanical properties of specimens before and after exposure were determined. These results indicated that natural colors dyed ESP filled PLA, bio-composites changed the appearances of color variations more than ESP filled PLA. However, ESP and natural colors dyed of ESP did not affect functional group positions after light exposure testing, but the significant change concerned bands between 1800 and 1680 cm−1 that attributed to the carbonyl group in PLA. Crystallization behavior revealed that the Tg of specimen tended to decrease after exposure testing. Furthermore, the yellow dyed from Jackfruit tree would encouragement the crystallization that was seen a slight development in the %crystallinity of the PLA-ESP biocomposites. The tensile strength of all samples would be increased with after light exposure, but %strain at break of PLA and ESP filled PLA decreased with light exposure. On the other hand, the elongation of two natural colors dyed of ESP filled PLA tended to increase after 30 days of light exposure when compare with neat PLA.

This research aims to study the mechanical, thermal and rheological of eggshell powder (ESP) filled polylactic acid (PLA) with and without adding soybean oil (SBO). The ESP filled in PLA at 10%wt were compounded by using an internal machine at 190°C. SBO was filled with various contents between 0-10 %wt in PLA-ESP composites. Morphological, mechanical, rheological and thermal properties were investigated on the sample obtained by an injection molding. The result indicated that the ultimate tensile strength and strain decreased with SBO in PLA-ESP composites. However, the strain has increased obviously up when adding SBO. This was due to the presence of microvoids that was confirmed by scanning electron microscope. Furthermore, SBO played an important role reduce between polymer-polymer interaction and ESP particles. Melt flow index of PLA-ESP composites with and without SBO exhibited higher than neat PLA. Adding SBO into PLA-ESP composites reduced onset temperature degradation (Tonset) and maximum temperature degradation (Tmax) while ESP increased of char residue content.

Thermoplastic vulcanizates or TPVs is a type of materials exhibiting excellent properties between thermoplastic and elastomer by combining the characteristics of vulcanized rubber with the processing properties of thermoplastics. This research aims to study the effect of thermal aging on the morphology and mechanical properties of thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) based on a mixture of natural rubber (NR) and polystyrene (PS). TPVs samples were prepared using the internal mixer at a mass ratio of NR/PS 70/30, 50/50, 30/70 and 0/100. Tensile properties and impact strength showed that when the amount of NR increased tends of impact strength and elongation at break increased but tends of tensile strength decreased. On the other hand, tends of tensile strength for thermal aging at 70°C for 3 days increased when the amount of PS increase. The blending ratio of NR / PS at 70/30 is the best. It gave a worthy increase from 19.94 MPa to be 25.56 MPa (28.18%).