Study on Dispersion of Organoclay in (Poly Lactic Acid/Natural Rubber) Blend

Recently the use of biodegradable polymers to replace conventional polymers has received many attention.Among these materials, poly (lactic acid) (PLA) is a thermoplastic biopolymer that should be modified to enable its use in many applications due to its high brittleness and low barrier properties. Brittleness properties of PLA can be decreased by its blending with natural rubber (NR), however it causes decrease in modulus. It was reported that the use of nanoclay increases modulus as well as the barrier properties. In this study natural rubber in combination with organoclay (OC) is blended with PLA and the effect of 1%wt and 3%wt concentration of the OC on dispersion of OC and rheological behavior was investigated. It was observed that OC increased the compatibility of the PLA and NR and affected the theological behavior of the blend

Keywords:

Poly lactic acid , Natural Rubber , Nanocomposite , Rheological Behavior