Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate/Poly(butyleneadipate-co-terephthalate)/Layered Double Hydroxide Nanocomposites

Nanocomposites of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate/poly(butyleneadipate-co-terephthalate)/layered double hydroxide (PHB/PBAT/LDH) were prepared from a binary blend of PHB/PBAT and stearate-Zn3Al LDH via a solution casting method using chloroform as solvent in this study. The pristine Zn3Al LDH was synthesized from nitrate salts solution at pH 7 by using coprecipitation technique and then was modified by stearate anions surfactant via ion exchange reaction. As a result, the basal spacing of the LDH was increased from 8.77 to 24.94 angstrom A after the modification. Intercalated nanocomposites were formed due to the presence of diffraction peak in XRD diffractograms. The infrared spectrum of stearate-Zn3Al LDH exhibited the existence of stearate anions in the synthesized Zn3Al LDH. Mechanical properties with 2wt% stearate-Zn3Al LDH loading nanocomposites showed 56wt% improvements in elongation at break compared to those of the blend.