Abstract
This study investigates the rheological, morphological, and mechanical properties of meltprocessed
polylactide/ethylene vinyl alcohol (70PLA/30EVOH) blend composites containing 0.25,
0.5, and 1 wt.% of graphene oxide (GO) nanoplates. Thermodynamic-based suggested the localization
of nanoparticles in EVOH, SEM studies showed that the introduction of GO to the blend increased
dispersed droplet size, which was attributed to the localization of GO within EVOH, as confirmed
by TEM. The rheology results indicated a decrease in the elasticity for the composite containing
0.25 wt.% of GO compared to the neat blend, which was attributed to the sliding effect of the added
GO nanoplatelets. However, samples containing higher amounts of GO nanoplatelets exhibited
more excellent elasticity than the neat blend. The increased elasticity was suggestively attributed
to the dominance of hydrodynamic interactions, the physical network of added nanoplatelets, and
polymer/GO interactions over the sliding role of the GO nanoplatelets at higher loadings. In
addition, the effect of the order of mixing was investigated, and the premixing of PLA and GO
exhibited a decrease in the droplet radius compared to the neat blend. It was ascribed to the
localization of GO nanosheets in the PLA and interface, which was confirmed by rheological results
and mechanical assessments.