Improvement of processability of clay/polylactide nanocomposites by a combinational method: In situ polymerization of L-lactide and melt compounding of polylactide

Abstract

A modified clay/polylactide nanocomposite was prepared. The clay was modified by grafting polylactide chains onto the surface of clay. The modified clay was melt-compounded with a high-molecular-weight polylactide matrix. This novel clay/polylactide nanocomposite showed high shear-thinning behavior when the molecular weight of the grafted poly(L-lactide) was rather high. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.