Reprocessing of PLA/Graphene Nanoplatelets Nanocomposites
Luigi Botta,
Roberto Scaffaro,
Fiorenza Sutera,
Maria Chiara Mistretta
Affiliations
Luigi Botta
Department of Civil, Environmental, Aerospace and Materials Engineering, University of Palermo, RU INSTM of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Roberto Scaffaro
Department of Civil, Environmental, Aerospace and Materials Engineering, University of Palermo, RU INSTM of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Fiorenza Sutera
Department of Civil, Environmental, Aerospace and Materials Engineering, University of Palermo, RU INSTM of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Maria Chiara Mistretta
Department of Civil, Environmental, Aerospace and Materials Engineering, University of Palermo, RU INSTM of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy
This work reports a study on the effect of multiple reprocessing on the properties of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) filled with graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) compared to the melt reprocessed neat polymeric matrix. In particular, morphological, X-Ray Diffraction and Micro-Raman analyses, intrinsic viscosity measurements, thermal, rheological and mechanical tests were carried out on materials reprocessed up five times by means of a single screw extruder. The results indicated that the presence of GnP decreased the degradation rate as a function of the reprocessing cycles in comparison with the neat PLA that, on the contrary, showed a more drastic reduction of the molecular weight. Moreover, the reprocessing improved the particle dispersion and reduced the presence of GnP aggregates.
