Investigation of Zinc Oxide nanoparticles effect on the thermal, mechanical and UV shielding properties of the PLA/PCL blends by solvent casting method:

The main objective of this work was to preparation and characterization of a biodegradable and biocompatible nano-composites with having UV shielding and antibacterial properties. In this way, a polymericfilm based on poly (lactic acid) (PLA), poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) (in a ratio of 80/20) and varying amount of ZnOnano-particles were prepared by solution casting. UV shielding of films were characterized by using ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra. In addition, effect of Nano zinc oxide incorporation on the thermal behavior of nanocomposites was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Moreover, mechanical properties of prepared nanocomposites werecharacterized in term of tensile test. It was demonstrated that, addition of ZnO nanoparticles resulted to improvement of stiffness and tensile strength up to a certain loading

Keywords:

Polymer nanocomposite , ZnO nanoparticles , Mechanical properties , PLA , UV shielding , Solvent casting , Blend