TY - JOUR
T1 - Thermal insulation and mechanical properties of polylactic acid (PLA) at different processing conditions
AU - Barkhad, Mohamed Saeed
AU - Abu-Jdayil, Basim
AU - Mourad, Abdel Hamid I.
AU - Iqbal, Muhammad Z.
N1 - Funding Information:
Author Contributions: M.S.B.: Data curation; Formal analysis; Investigation; Writing—original draft preparation. preBp.aAra.-tJi.o: nC.onBce.Apt.u-Ja.:lizaCtioonnc;eFputunadliinzgataiocnq;uisiFtuionnd;iInngvestaicgqautiiosnit;ioMne; thoIndvoelostgigya; tPioronj;ectMademthiondisotlroagtiyo;n; RPersoojeucrtces; Supervision; Writing—review & editing. A.H.I.M.: Investigation; Resources; Supervision; Writing—review & Supervision; Writing—review & editing. M.Z.I.: Investigation; Methodology; Resources; Writing—review & agreed to the published version of the manuscript. editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This research was funded by The Emirates Center for Energy and Environment Research—UAE FundUniversitying: This(Prresearch was oject # 31R163).funded by The Emirates Center for Energy and Environment Research—UAE University (Project # 31R163). Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by The Emirates Center for Energy and Environment Research-UAE University (Project # 31R163).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - This work aims to provide an extensive evaluation on the use of polylactic acid (PLA) as a green, biodegradable thermal insulation material. The PLA was processed by melt extrusion followed by compression molding and then subjected to different annealing conditions. Afterwards, the thermal insulation properties and structural capacity of the PLA were characterized. Increasing the annealing time of PLA in the range of 0-24 h led to a considerable increase in the degree of crystallization, which had a direct impact on the thermal conductivity, density, and glass transition temperature. The thermal conductivity of PLA increased from 0.0643W/(mK) for quickly-cooled samples to 0.0904W/(mK) for the samples annealed for 24 h, while the glass transition temperature increased by approximately 11.33% to reach 59.0 °C. Moreover, the annealing process substantially improved the compressive strength and rigidity of the PLA and reduced its ductility. The results revealed that annealing PLA for 1-3 h at 90 °C produces an optimum thermal insulation material. The low thermal conductivity (0.0798-0.0865 W/(mK), low density (~1233 kg/m3), very low water retention (<0.19%) and high compressive strength (97.2-98.7 MPa) in this annealing time range are very promising to introduce PLA as a green insulation material.
AB - This work aims to provide an extensive evaluation on the use of polylactic acid (PLA) as a green, biodegradable thermal insulation material. The PLA was processed by melt extrusion followed by compression molding and then subjected to different annealing conditions. Afterwards, the thermal insulation properties and structural capacity of the PLA were characterized. Increasing the annealing time of PLA in the range of 0-24 h led to a considerable increase in the degree of crystallization, which had a direct impact on the thermal conductivity, density, and glass transition temperature. The thermal conductivity of PLA increased from 0.0643W/(mK) for quickly-cooled samples to 0.0904W/(mK) for the samples annealed for 24 h, while the glass transition temperature increased by approximately 11.33% to reach 59.0 °C. Moreover, the annealing process substantially improved the compressive strength and rigidity of the PLA and reduced its ductility. The results revealed that annealing PLA for 1-3 h at 90 °C produces an optimum thermal insulation material. The low thermal conductivity (0.0798-0.0865 W/(mK), low density (~1233 kg/m3), very low water retention (<0.19%) and high compressive strength (97.2-98.7 MPa) in this annealing time range are very promising to introduce PLA as a green insulation material.
KW - Biopolymer
KW - Green thermal insulator
KW - Mechanical properties
KW - Polylactic acid
KW - Thermal properties
KW - Water retention
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U2 - 10.3390/POLYM12092091
DO - 10.3390/POLYM12092091
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85092023799
SN - 2073-4360
VL - 12
JO - Polymers
JF - Polymers
IS - 9
M1 - 2091
ER -