Synthesis and characterization of elastomeric multiblock polyester nanocomposites

POLY 434

Miroslawa El Fray, mirfray@ps.pl and Agnieszka Pilaszkiewicz, apilaszkiewicz@ps.pl. Polymer Institute, Biomaterials and Functional Polymers Laboratory, Szczecin University of Technology, Pulaskiego 10, Szczecin, 70-322, Poland
This paper discusses the synthesis of nanocomposites by in situ polycondensation reaction of elastomeric multiblock PET/DLA copolymer in presence of TiO2 nanoparticles. An influence of TiO2 concentration on selected properties will be investigated. Low concentration of TiO2 nanofiller resulted in higher glass transition and melting temperature as compared to neat copolymer. At concentration of 0.2 wt% TiO2 morphology of copolymer essentially changes, and in effect mechanical properties are significantly improved. It was demonstrated that introduction of low concentration (0.2 wt% TiO2) of nanofiller to PET/DLA copolymer matrix can produce nanocomposites with tensile strength and elongation considerably higher as compared to the neat PET/DLA copolymer. At such low concentration of nanofiller, TiO2 acts as nucleating agent for amorphous PET/DLA matrix. It was demonstrated that in situ polycondensation reaction from the melt can be considered as very effective method to produce nanocomposites.