Melt Flow Rate
The pristine PLA MFI was 94 g/10 min. The
MFI after melt compounding was 134 g/10
min. This suggests that PLA thermally
degrades during the internal mixing process.
The melt flow indices of PLA/nanoclay
(Cloisite®30B) nanocomposites at various
loading levels after melt compounding were
also measured
Adding
nanoclay generally increased the viscosity of
the polymer matrix and therefore reduced the
MFI. This might be because an interaction
may exist between PLA and the surfactants
of the nanoclay, hence increasing the MFI of
the nanocomposites. At higher clay loading,
the MFI of PLA/nanoclay is lower