Manufacture of a hydrophobic CaO/polylactic acid composite

ABSTRACT

In this study, the surface of calcium oxide (CaO) was modified with n-octadecyltrichlorosilane [CH₃(CH₂)₁₆CH₂SiCl₃] to obtain modified calcium oxide (CaO-M). CaO and CaO-M were melt-blended with polylactic acid (PLA) to prepare PLA/CaO and PLA/CaO-M, respectively. Moisture absorption measurement showed that the surface of modified CaO was changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. CaO and PLA had a tendency to agglomerate after blending, whereas the blend of CaO-M and PLA showed no signs of agglomeration, and the distribution of CaO-M in PLA was homogeneous. In addition, CaO-M had a heterogeneous nucleation effect on PLA, which effectively inhibited cold crystallization and promoted crystallization of PLA. In conclusion, CaO-M can be used as a nucleating agent of PLA.

KEYWORDS:

• Composite
• PLA
• CaO
• Blend
• Hydrophilic
• Hydrophobic
• Modification
• Crystallization

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Found (Project No. 51473006, 51773005, 51173005, 51503007) and the Project Program (Project No. FHI-017102) of Fenghua Institute of Science and Technology of Ningbo University of Technology.