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Temperature dependency of gas barrier properties of biodegradable PP/PLA/nanoclay films: Experimental analyses with a molecular dynamics simulation approach
Author(s) -
Salehi Abolfazl,
Jafari Seyed Hassan,
Khonakdar Hossein Ali,
EbadiDehaghani Hassan
Publication year - 2018
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.46665
Subject(s) - solubility , microstructure , nanocomposite , materials science , chemical engineering , polypropylene , arrhenius equation , permeability (electromagnetism) , oxygen permeability , scanning electron microscope , gaseous diffusion , activation energy , polymer chemistry , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , membrane , oxygen , fuel cells , biochemistry , engineering
Polypropylene (PP)/poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/clay nanocomposite films with various compositions (PP‐rich and PLA‐rich) were prepared. Their structural and barrier properties against CO 2 , O 2 , and N 2 were investigated. The microstructure of the nanocomposites was studied by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and wide angle X‐ray scattering. The PP‐rich with 75/25 composition revealed the best barrier properties against all the gases which could be justified according to its microstructure. Selectivity of O 2 /N 2 and CO 2 /N 2 was also measured. It was found that the addition of nanoclay as a gas barrier component reduced the permeability in both systems. The permselectivity was also reduced in the PP‐rich films while it was increased in the PLA‐rich system. Moreover, the temperature dependency of permeability, selectivity, and permselectivity for PP, PLA, and PP/PLA (75/25) samples was examined. The results showed that the temperature dependence of permeability obeyed an Arrhenius equation and order of activation energy of permeability for O 2 , CO 2 , and N 2 gases was found to be E P < E P /PLA < E PLA . According to solubility measurements, the order of solubility coefficient for gases was as follows: CO 2 > O 2 > N 2 . Finally, the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was performed to estimate the diffusivity coefficients of the gases and showed that solubility increases with increasing temperature, which was in accordance with the experiments. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135 , 46665.