Printing properties of polycaprolactone composite films

Polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable and non-toxic polymer, was used to prepare composites with inorganic and organic additives by solvent casting method with dichloromethane as solvent. Clay (C) is used as inorganic (0.1, 0.4, 1 and 3 wt%), oleic acid (O) and glycerol monooleate (G) are used as (1, 3 and 5 wt%) organic additives (OA). As the degree of crystallinity of a polymer affects its properties, accurate determination is important. X-ray diffraction and DSC were used to determine the degree of crystallinity of samples. The physical and mechanical properties of crystalline polymers depend on the morphology, crystal structure and degree of crystallinity. The morphology of composites from crystalline polymers are affected by the presence of the additives. At very low levels of inorganic additives such as clay, the crystallization kinetics of nanocomposites are dramatically increased, with respect to extruded pure material. Surface tension of the composite films was obtained from contact angle measurements. Degree of crystallinity values were obtained from isothermal DSC melting peaks. Degrees of crystallinities of composite films increased with oleic acid and decreased with glycerol monooleate addition and slightly decreased with clay addition. Also high amount of additives possibly cause defective crystal formation and low degree of crystallinity. Clay addition had no significant effect, but the organic additives decreased the contact angle value. It can be concluded that the composite films gained higher wettability properties by addition of the organic additives. The composite films can be used in different packaging applications by adjusting properties with additives. Surface tension of the neat PCL was found as 255.25 N/m. Surface tension of the PCL composite films change between 35.9 and 327.9 N/m. The surface tension values are especially decreased with glycerol monooleate addition. These new composite materials can be used in active packaging, drug delivery systems and tissue engineering with improved product properties.