Moisture Absorption Behaviour of Biopolymer Polycapralactone (PCL) / Organo Modified Montmorillonite Clay (OMMT) biocomposite films

Abstract

Bio composite materials were fabricated using mixing biodegradable polymer polycaptalactone (PCL) and Organo Modified Montmorillonite Clay (OMMT) through solution casting. Various samples of bio composite films were prepared by varying the OMMT wt% composition by 0.1%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%. Thereafter, the density and water absorption of the composites were investigated with respect to immersion time in water. The moisture absorption results show that with an increase in weight percentage (from 0.1 to wt 1.5%) of OMMT within the bio polymer films, the absorption value of bio-nanocomposite films reduced rapidly from 34.4% to 22.3%. The density of hybrid composites also increased with increase in weight percentage of OMMT. The swelling characteristic of PCL increased with increasing % of OMMT clay. These results indicate that the optimized composition of constituents in composite membrane could effectively reduce the anhydrous conditions of bio-composite film.