Improving PLA ductility using only 0.05% of CNTs and 0.25% of an azodye

Abstract

The high brittleness of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a major drawback for many applications. In this work we develop a new highly ductile PLA composite using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and the azo-dye disperse orange 3 (DO3). Increments up to almost an order of magnitude in strain at break and tensile toughness were achieved with the addition of only 0.05% of CNTs and 0.25% of DO3 respect to the polymer. This important improvement is explained in terms of a new spatial conformation of PLA chains due to the addition of DO3 and CNTs.