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Structure‐rheology responses of polylactide/calcium carbonate composites
Author(s) -
Gu ShuYing,
Zou CunYang,
Zhou Kai,
Ren Jie
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.30768
Subject(s) - rheology , materials science , composite material , shear thinning , calcium carbonate , plastics extrusion , rheometry , dynamic mechanical analysis , scanning electron microscope , polymer
Polylactide (PLA) and calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) were melt blended using a twin‐screw extruder. The morphology of PLA/CaCO 3 composites was observed by scanning electronic microscopy. The linear and nonlinear shear rheological behaviors of PLA/CaCO 3 melts were investigated by an advanced rheology expended system. The results show that the CaCO 3 particles are evenly dispersed in the PLA matrix. The incorporation of low CaCO 3 content (<20%) causes the reduction of the storage moduli, loss moduli, and dynamic viscosities whereas high CaCO 3 content (>30%) leads to the increase of the storage moduli, loss moduli, and dynamic viscosities. The composites with high CaCO 3 content show pseudo‐solid‐like behaviors at low frequency. High CaCO 3 content also results in a significant increase of flow activation energy and a dramatic decrease of flow index n , which is in consistent with the more serious shear‐thinning tendency of high‐filled PLA composites melts. The particular rheological responses might be attributed to the formation and destruction of the percolating network. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009