AbstractThe study aimed to investigate the reinforcement of plasticized poly(lactic acid) (PLA)
with titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanofiller. In this research, solvent casting and
thermocompression methods are adopted to prepare PLA nanocomposites with
different percentages of TiO2 at 0.5, 2.0, 3.5, 5.0, and 7.0 %?w/w that dispersed in PLA
solution using a mechanical mixer and ultrasonication technique. The composites were
characterized using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), differential scanning
calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron
microscopy (SEM). Results showed that tributyl citrate (TBC) plasticizer reduced the
brittle failure and increased the flexibility of PLA whilst TiO2 nanofiller improved the
crystallization of PLA composites as evidenced in DSC results at slow scanning rate.
The presence of 3.5 %?w/w TiO2 in plasticized PLA increased the glass transition
temperature (Tg) from 41.75 °C to 42.22 °C indicating restricted mobility of poly.....