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Effect of poly(ε‐caprolactone) and titanium ( IV ) dioxide content on the UV and hydrolytic degradation of poly(lactic acid)/poly(ε‐caprolactone) blends
Author(s) -
Luyt Adriaan Stephanus,
Antunes Ana,
Popelka Anton,
Mahmoud Abdelrahman,
Hassan Mohammad Korany,
Kasak Peter
Publication year - 2021
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.51266
Subject(s) - caprolactone , differential scanning calorimetry , degradation (telecommunications) , materials science , thermogravimetric analysis , titanium dioxide , nanocomposite , hydrolysis , chemical engineering , ultimate tensile strength , polymer chemistry , polymer , copolymer , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , telecommunications , physics , computer science , engineering , thermodynamics
The effect of accelerated weathering degradation on the properties of poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) blends and PLA/PCL/titanium (IV) dioxide (TiO 2 ) nanocomposites are presented in this paper. The results show that both polymers are susceptible to weathering degradation, but their degradation rates are different and are also influenced by the presence of TiO 2 in the samples. Visual, microscopic and atomic force microsocpy observations of the surface after accelerated weathering tests confirmed that degradation occurred faster in the PLA/PCL blends than in the PLA/PCL/TiO 2 nanocomposites. The X‐ray diffraction results showed the degradation of PCL in the disappearance of its characteristic peaks over weathering time, and also confirmed that PLA lost its amorphous character and developed crystals from the shorter chains formed as a result of degradative chain scission. It was further observed that the presence of TiO 2 retarded the degradation of both PLA and PCL. These results were supported by the differential scanning calorimetry results. The thermogravimetric analysis results confirmed that that PLA and PCL respectively influenced each other's thermal degradation, and that TiO 2 played a role in the thermal degradation of both PLA and PCL. The tensile properties of both PLA/PCL and PLA/PCL/TiO 2 were significantly reduced through weathering exposure and the incorporation of TiO 2 .