A Fractional-Order Model of Biopolyester Containing Naturally Occurring Compounds for Soil Stabilization

Abstract

Currently, the use of polymers and biopolymers as soil-stabilizer additives for control of the soil degradation, deterioration, and desertification and for improving the arid and semiarid soils has been expanded significantly in the agricultural sector. This research was conducted to determine the effect of naturally occurring compounds, such as quercetin (Q) and sodium montmorillonite (NaMMt) at different weight ratios, in biopolyester, such as polylactic acid (PLA), aiming to formulate ecosustainable materials to control the soil degradation and to protect the environment. As known, the use of sophisticated analytical tools to describe the material rheology and melting properties is nowadays very popular among physicists and material scientists. Certainly, several experimental tests conducted on polymeric- and biopolymeric-based materials, such as rubbers, foams, and hydro/aero gels, show that the relaxation time spectra are a continuous function, and as a consequence, multiple relaxation times are involved in the rheological description of the materials, yielding the need for nonconventional relaxation functions. Indeed, in this work, the considered fractional-order model could be considered a powerful tool to describe and to predict the melting properties of the complex polymer-based systems containing different additives.