Prepearation of polylactic acid montmorillonite nanocomposite

In this thesis, the objective is to obtain Polylactic acid (PLA)/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposite (NC) with increased molecular weight and fine NC structure likeexfoliated or intercalated. For this purpose first a MMT, Cloisite Ca++ is modified by Sn++ ions via ion exchange method for clays in order to use this MMT as both polymerizaitoninitiator and nanofiller for PLA/MMT nanocomposite. L-lactic acid and that modified MMT(CCa/Sn) are used to prepare PLA/MMT nanocomposite by in-situ polymerizationmethod. Because of Sn atoms between the clay layers, the polymerization is expected to proceed between MMT layers and PLA chains are expected to grow here and provide intercalated and exfoliated NC structures. The nanocomposite structure is characterized by X-Ray Diffraciton (XRD) and Transmission electrom microscopy (TEM) analysis. The effect of clay on molecular weight is examined by gel permeation chromotograpy (GPC) analysis of NC, thermal behaviors of NC are determined by termogravimetric analysis (TGA). Polymer?s and nanocomposites? glass transition temperature (Tg), crystallizationtemperature Tc, melting temperature (Tm,) are determined via diffirantial scanning calorymetry (DSC).