Degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate)/clay nanocomposites during melt extrusion: Effect of clay catalysis and chain extension

Synergistic Inhibition Effect of Chitosan and L-Cysteine for the Protection of Copper-Based Alloys against Atmospheric Chloride-Induced Indoor Corrosion

The protection of metals from atmospheric corrosion is a task of primary importance for many applications and many different products have been used, sometimes being toxic and harmful for health and the environment. In order to overcome drawbacks due to toxicity of the corrosion inhibitors and harmful organic solvents and to ensure long-lasting protection, new organic compounds have been proposed and their corrosion inhibition properties have been investigated. In this work, we describe the use of a new environment-friendly anticorrosive coating that takes advantage of the synergism between an eco-friendly bio-polymer matrix and an amino acid. The corrosion inhibition of a largely used Copper-based (Cu-based) alloy against the chloride-induced indoor atmospheric attack was studied using chitosan (CH) as a biopolymer and l-Cysteine (Cy) as an amino acid. To evaluate the protective efficacy of the coatings, tailored accelerated corrosion tests were carried out on bare and coated Cu-based alloys, further, the nature of the protective film formed on the Cu-based alloy surface was analyzed by Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) while the surface modifications due to the corrosion treatments were investigated by optical microscopy (OM). The evaluation tests reveal that the Chitosan/l-Cysteine (CH/Cy) coatings exhibit good anti-corrosion properties against chloride attack whose efficiency increases with a minimum amount of Cy of 0.25 mg/mL.

Shelf Life of Fresh Sliced Sea Bream Pack in PET Nanocomposite Trays

Spoilage of fish due to microbiological activity is one of the biggest problems found by producers to take fresh fish products to customers. It is necessary packaging improvements to be able to increase fish shelf life and, thus, be able to travel further and to keep product freshness longer at customer's houses. In the present work, a new material is developed for fish packaging in modified atmosphere (MAP). This material is poly(ethylene terephathalate) (PET) extruded with a polyamide (PA) nanocomposite containing nanosepiolite. Here, it is shown the production procedure from laboratory to industrial scale. Permeability to oxygen and impact mechanical properties results are shown for different samples, both at laboratory and industrial processes. At the end, a material composition is chosen to produce the finale tray which will contain the sliced sea bream. Microbiological analysis is done over the packed fish, resulting is a lower microbiological count compared to a PET control sample. This means that shelf life of pack sea bream could increase from 2-4 to 7-9 days, which is very important for both producers and customers. On the other hand, trays obtained comply with European regulations in food contact materials (FCM) and, overall, they are suitable for food packaging materials.

Mechanical Recycling of Partially Bio-Based and Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate Blends by Reactive Extrusion with Poly(styrene-co-glycidyl methacrylate)

In the present study, partially bio-based polyethylene terephthalate (bio-PET) was melt-mixed at 15-45 wt% with recycled polyethylene terephthalate (r-PET) obtained from remnants of the injection blowing process of contaminant-free food-use bottles. The resultant compounded materials were thereafter shaped into pieces by injection molding for characterization. Poly(styrene-co-glycidyl methacrylate) (PS-co-GMA) was added at 1-5 parts per hundred resin (phr) of polyester blend during the extrusion process to counteract the ductility and toughness reduction that occurred in the bio-PET pieces after the incorporation of r-PET. This random copolymer effectively acted as a chain extender in the polyester blend, resulting in injection-molded pieces with slightly higher mechanical resistance properties and nearly the same ductility and toughness than those of neat bio-PET. In particular, for the polyester blend containing 45 wt% of r-PET, elongation at break (ε_b) increased from 10.8% to 378.8% after the addition of 5 phr of PS-co-GMA, while impact strength also improved from 1.84 kJ·m^-2 to 2.52 kJ·m^-2. The mechanical enhancement attained was related to the formation of branched and larger macromolecules by a mechanism of chain extension based on the reaction of the multiple glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) groups present in PS-co-GMA with the hydroxyl (-OH) and carboxyl (-COOH) terminal groups of both bio-PET and r-PET. Furthermore, all the polyester blend pieces showed thermal and dimensional stabilities similar to those of neat bio-PET, remaining stable up to more than 400 °C. Therefore, the use low contents of the tested multi-functional copolymer can successfully restore the properties of bio-based but non-biodegradable polyesters during melt reprocessing with their recycled petrochemical counterparts and an effective mechanical recycling is achieved.

Role of Surfactants in the Properties of Poly(Ethylene Terephthalate)/Purified Clay Nanocomposites

Purified clay was modified with different amounts of alkyl ammonium and phosphonium salts and used as filler in the preparation of PET nanocomposites via melt intercalation. The effect of this type of filler on morphology and thermal and mechanical properties of PET nanocomposites was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analyses (TG), tensile properties, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that the mixture of alkyl ammonium and phosphonium salts favored the production of PET nanocomposites with intercalated and partially exfoliated morphologies with slight improvement in thermal stability. In addition, the incorporation of these organoclays tended to inhibit PET crystallization behavior, which is profitable in the production of transparent bottles.

Hydrophobicity and polymer compatibility of POSS-modified Wyoming Na-montmorillonite for developing polymer-clay nanocomposites

The aim of the present work was to investigate the hydrophobicity and polymer compatibility of aminopropylisooctyl polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxane (POSS) - modified Na-montmorillonite (Na-MMT) towards developing polymer-clay nanocomposites. The effect of different concentrations of POSS on properties of Na-MMT was studied. The intercalation ability of the POSS molecules into the Na-MMT interlayer was analyzed by X-ray diffraction. It was found that the d₀₀₁ value was increased with increasing the POSS concentration, indicating the successful intercalation of the POSS molecules into the Na-MMT interlayer. The d₀₀₁ value was 4.12nm at 0.4 cation exchange capacity (CEC) loading of POSS, increased at a slight rate upon further increase of CEC loading, and finally reached 4.25nm at 1.0 CEC loading of POSS. The results of the thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis confirmed the high thermal stability of the POSS-MMT. The thermal stability was defined as a 5% mass loss (T₅) at 0.2 CEC loading of POSS was observed at 352°C and slightly decreased with further increase in the POSS concentration. The porous properties, such as specific surface area (SSA), pore volume, and pore size were estimated by the adsorption of N₂ molecules on the Na-MMT surface. The SSA and pore volume were reduced with increasing the concentration of the POSS molecules due to the adsorption of the POSS molecules on the Na-MMT, while the pore size was increased upon the formation of macroporous structure. The interfacial interaction energy between water and POSS-MMT (ΔG_{Clay/Water/Clay}^IF) was used to evaluate the surface hydrophobicity, and a similar approach was also applied to assess the polymer compatibility of the developed composite. The obtained results confirm that the polymer compatibility of POSS-MMT prepared in this study is better than that of commonly used HDTMA-MMT.

Interdigitated crystalline MMT–MCA in polyamide 6

A novel interdigitated crystalline MMT–MCA shows outstanding fire retardancy owing to homogeneous dispersion of MMT and MCA in PA6.

Structure-barrier property relationship of biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) and poly[(butylene succinate)-co-(butylene adipate)] nanocomposites: influence of the rigid amorphous fraction

Composites composed of polyesters, poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) or poly[(butylene succinate)-co-(butylene adipate)] (PBSA), and 5 wt% of montmorillonite (CNa) or organo-modified montmorillonite (C30B) were melt-processed and transformed into films by either compression-molding or extrusion-calendering. XRD, rheological measurements and TEM images clearly indicated that films containing CNa are microcomposites, while nanocomposites were observed for those containing C30B. Using Flash DSC, it was possible, for the first time, not only to measure the heat capacity step at the glass transition of these two materials in their amorphous state, but also to investigate whether the preparation technique influenced the Rigid Amorphous Fraction (RAF) in our PBS- and PBSA-based nanocomposites. In this work, we have successfully shown the correlation between the microstructure of the films and their barrier properties, and especially the role played by the RAF. Indeed, the lowest permeabilities to gases and to water were determined in the films containing the highest RAF in both PBS- and PBSA-based materials.

Falha por stress cracking em híbridos PET/argila

O presente estudo investiga a falha por stress cracking em polímeros contendo argila montmorilonítica. Ensaios de tração e de relaxação de tensão foram conduzidos para avaliar a resistência ao stress cracking do PET puro e dos híbridos PET/argila em contato com soluções aquosas de hidróxido de sódio. As análises por difratometria de raios-X evidenciaram que a argila adicionada não gerou uma estrutura esfoliada e sim a obtenção de microcompósitos. Os resultados mostraram que a presença de argila dispersa no PET causa concentração de tensão, o que exerce forte influência no comportamento de stress cracking, com os efeitos sendo afetados pela ordenação lamelar e ao teor de carga, resultando em maiores taxas de relaxação de tensão. A argila com menor regularidade no empilhamento lamelar, embora ocasione menor concentração de tensão, favorece mais o fissuramento superficial da matriz, sugerindo que o efeito de barreira ao fluido não foi efetivo. Medidas de massa molar evidenciaram que a argila acelera o ataque químico da matriz quando elevadas concentrações de solução são utilizadas, porém diminui o efeito da tensão mecânica na degradação.

Effect of Processing Conditions on Properties of PET/Clay Nanocomposite Films

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nanocomposite films (with 3 wt.% Cloisite 30B) were prepared by cast extrusion followed by uniaxial stretching, using chill rolls. Two screw profiles with different mixing elements under different screw speeds (N) and feeding rates (Q) were used to prepare PET/clay nanocomposite (PCN) films. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) showed that the clay layers were aligned in the machine direction (MD). XRD patterns depicted that the interlayer distance of clay platelets in the state of intercalation is somehow independent of the processing conditions, but the macro-scale characterization, including barrier and mechanical properties, showed that the level of clay layer delamination was affected by processing conditions. The results reveal that the applied strain has stronger effect than residence time on the barrier and mechanical properties. At the highest screw speed (N = 250 min−1), 27% reduction in oxygen permeability and 30% improvement in tensile modulus were obtained for the more severe screw profile.