Biodegradable Poly(Butylene Succinate) Nanocomposites Based on Dimeric Surfactant Organomodified Clays with Enhanced Water Vapor Barrier and Mechanical Properties
Résumé
Biocomposites based on biodegradable polybuty-lene succinate (PBS) and organomodified clays (OMt) were prepared by melt blending process. The OMt nanofillers were obtained by ion exchange reaction between sodium montmor-illonite (Mt) and gemini surfactants bearing 4-decyloxyphenylace-tamide hydrophobic chains and ethylene or hexylene spacer. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), trans-mission electron microscopy (TEM), and rheological measure-ment results showed that the investigated hybrids present a uniform dispersion with an exfoliation of clay into the PBS matrix, particularly for short spacer surfactant based composites. The effect of organoclay loading and composition on the thermal, mechanical, and barrier properties was also investigated. High clay loading and long gemini surfactant spacer lead to substantial improvement of Young modulus values by 21%, while low clay content induces a reduction of the hybrid's crystallinity due to strong OMt-PBS interactions. Compared to that of the neat PBS film, a significant reduction of the water vapor permeability (WVP) by 28% was obtained by adding only 3 wt % of PBS/OMt (2) which opens up prospects for this material in the field of food packaging. This study shows that gemini surfactant-modified organoclays can be used as effective nanofillers in a PBS matrix to access to value-added nanocomposites.
