Ductilizing Effects of Cryogenic

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Simultaneous Hardening/Ductilizing Effects of Cryogenic Nanohybridization of Biopolyamides with Montmorillonites Mohammad Asif Ali, Nupur Tandon, and Tatsuo Kaneko* Energy and Environment Area, Graduate School of Advanced Science and Technology, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technologies, 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan S Supporting Information *

ABSTRACT: We prepared organic/inorganic bionanohybrid resins of polyamides containing pyrrolidone in the backbone derived from the salt monomers of an itaconic acid biomolecule with various nanofillers, montmorillonites (MMTs), by cryogenic nanohybridizations. The nanohybridizations with MMTs hardened and strengthened the polypyrrolidone bioplastic resins owing to a simple reinforcement of hard filler incorporation. On the other hand, the elongation at break of the resins is unexpectedly increased by the nanohybridization with MMT sodium salt (NaMMT) to enhance the strain energy density, which differed from those of the nanohybrids with other organically modified MMTs. From spectroscopic analyses, we discuss the mechanism of such ductilization effects by NaMMT, the catalytic effect of NaMMT on partially opening the pyrrolidone ring to make polymer backbones flexible and to form carboxyl side chains that are strongly interactive with NaMMT fillers.



INTRODUCTION Development of environmentally friendly polymer materials such as biobased plastics is indispensable for the establishment of sustainable society.1 Polyamides (PAs) are widely used as engineering thermoplastics owing to their unique physiochemical properties, and their high thermomechanical properties are of great interest in the polymer industries.2−4 A variety of procedures for obtaining nanocomposites from various PAs with organically modified silicate clays have been developed successfully through in situ melt polycondensation, which allows the extension of their applications into broader and more demanding areas in the polymer industries.5−7 The improved properties of PA/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites have been attributed to the high specific area and aspect ratio of the silicates as well as the good matrix−filler interaction involving ionic bonds with the silicate layers of the smectite groups.8−12 To achieve well-exfoliated morphologies and subsequently to improve properties, it is necessary to find the surfactant structure appropriate for reducing the platelet− platelet interaction of MMT for the amide to adhere to the MMT surface.13−17 Nevertheless, the formation of the nanohybrid structure favors the ionic−van der Waals interaction between the clay and the PA, which disrupts the dislocation of clay18−20 after cryogenic treatment using liquid nitrogen.21−23 Biobased heterocyclic PAs have been synthesized from itaconic acid (IA) which was mass-produced from Aspergillus terreus fungus in the presence of carbohydrates.24−26 The melt polycondensation of IA salts with diamines formed a heterocyclic N-substituted 3-carboxy-2-pyrrolidones via the aza© 2017 American Chemical Society

Michael addition followed by amidation, as shown in the previous paper.7,25 A rigid heterocyclic ring has high thermal properties owing to strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding with an extensive rigid backbone, but the mechanical properties were not high enough for them to be widely applied in industry as high-performance materials. Here, we report the nanohybridization of a polypyrrolidone-based PA derived from IA salts with hexamethylenediamine.25 We used the PA deeply frozen under liquid nitrogen at a cryogenic temperature to enhance the mechanical properties.23 The synthesized nanohybrids show not only increased Young’s moduli but also enhanced toughness owing to the incorporation of MMT sodium salt (NaMMT).27



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Preparation of Nanohybrids. IA-based PAs were formed after the melt polycondensation of salt monomers of hexamethylenediamine with IA. PAs, having a component of rigid heterocyclic N-substituted 3-carboxy-2-pyrrolidone, were formed through the aza-Michael addition of diamine to IA and successive amidation under the condition at 170 °C for 18 h (yields, 90−92 wt %). The prepared PAs show Mw and Mn ranging from 84 000 to 36 500, respectively, with a polydispersity index (Mw/Mn) of 2.31. The clay such as MMT is considered as a potential candidate of filler materials to enhance Received: September 28, 2017 Accepted: November 6, 2017 Published: December 19, 2017 9103

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subsequently investigated. The Tg of the neat PA appeared at around 73 °C, whereas increasing the content of the NaMMT from 1 to 7 wt % decreased Tg to 60 °C, as shown in Figure S2. When other clays of organically modified MMTs such as ArMMT and OHMMT were used after cryogenic hybridization, the decrease in Tg was only slight (Figure 2). These

the thermal and mechanical properties. Thereafter, the obtained polymer was melt-mixed with the clay for 5 h at 170−210 °C to give NaMMT/PA-based nanohybrids. As a result, the nanohybrid resins have relatively higher mechanical properties as compared with neat PAs. However, their limited mechanical properties restrict them to be used in engineering applications that have high requirements to tailoring the properties after keeping them at a low temperature around 77 K in liquid nitrogen. On the basis of this information, we tried to make the cryogenic and annealing treatment for the nanohybrids to overcome their brittleness problem. The mechanical properties of the nanohybrid with 1−7 wt % are investigated; the maximum MMT loading contents were 7 wt % in any MMTs owing to the difficulty of homogeneous mixing. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis was made to observe the dispersion of the clays in the polymer matrix. Thin cross sections of the clay with a thickness ranging from 5 to 10 nm by slicing with the diamond cutter using the microtome machine under liquid nitrogen were used. A representative image is shown in Figure 1. The dark line with a thickness in the range

Figure 2. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermograms of the PA/MMT nanohybrids after cryogenic hybridization.

observations were unexpected, and some of the opposite effects to regular reinforcement by NaMMT should have occurred. Further, we also compared the Tg values with 5 wt % of the clay-loaded composite (PA/NaMMT) with a neat PA during annealing at 220 °C (fifth sampling), as shown in Figure S3. The result suggested that after annealing at 220 °C, the Tg values were slightly lower than in the neat PAs. However, a cryogenic-hybridized sample showed a Tg value of 61 °C which was slightly higher than a noncryo-treated sample (57 °C), as shown in Figure S3. Mechanical Properties. The mechanical properties of the neat PA and PA/MMT nanohybrids were measured by stress− strain analyses at room temperature in a tensile mode (Figure 3). From the stress−strain curve, Young’s modulus was

Figure 1. TEM micrographs of the PA/NaMMT hybrid with a NaMMT content of 1 wt %.

of 19.1 ± 2.7 nm and a length in the range of 97.4 ± 6.2 nm represents the intersection of MMT layers into the PA matrix as white regions. Exfoliated clay morphologies consisting of predominantly individual platelets dispersed uniformly over the PA matrix. Thermal Behavior of Nanohybrids. The effects of MMT incorporation into PA on thermal degradation of the nanohybrids in the range between room temperature and 800 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere were investigated. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) thermograph presented in Figure S1 was taken after annealing at 220 °C (means fifth sampling shown in the Supporting Information) at the rate of 10 °C/h. The 10 wt % loss temperature, Td10, of the neat PA was 399 °C, but its hybridization with NaMMT (5 wt %) at 220 °C increased Td10 to 409 °C. On the other hand, the cryogenic treatment for PA/NaMMT hybrids further increased Td10 to 423 °C (Figure S1). The cryogenic treatment has been reported to restrict the polymer chain mobility by enhancing the interaction of PA chains with MMT.20,21,26 Under liquid nitrogen temperature, most of the local movement in PA chains were frozen to shrink temporarily. If the chains were frozen together with NaMMT, the shrinking force could cause the chains to be closer to NaMMT than before treatment, enhancing the PA−NaMMT interaction. The cryogenic hybridization effects on glass transition temperature, Tg, were

Figure 3. Stress−strain curves of PA/NaMMT hybrids prepared by the cryogenic procedure. Inset values are weight compositions of NaMMT to PA.

estimated as 1.9 GPa from the inclination of the initial elastic region. The maximal tensile strength was 65 MPa, and the maximal elongation was 0.052 from the breaking point. From Figure 3, the improvement in mechanical properties over pure PAs after a small amount of clay loading is apparent. The prepared PA/NaMMT samples show tensile strengths and Young’s moduli in the range of 65−133 MPa and 1.9−4.8 GPa, respectively, as illustrated in Figure 3. 9104

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Figure 4. Mechanical properties of PA/MMT nanohybrids with various clay contents. (a) Tensile strength at maximum, (b) Young’s modulus, and (c) strain energy density.

However, the necking phenomenon was observed during elongation to show a local maximum of the stress−strain curve when only a small amount of NaMMT (1 wt %) was hybridized by the cryogenic procedure. As the amount of NaMMT was increased to 7 wt %, the initial inclination, the local peak size, and the elongation ratio at break were all increased. The gradual increment of elongation at break was in the range of 0.52−0.23. PA/OHMMT and PA/ArMMT hybrids showed different stress−strain behaviors from PA/NaMMT (Figure S4a,b). The initial inclination and maximal stress were increased by hybridizing with these organically modified MMTs. However, elongations at breaks were decreased. One can see that hybridization with organically modified MMTs makes resins strong and hard but brittle when compared to NaMMT. However, we have compared the mechanical strength and Young’s modulus of the elasticity behavior of 5 wt % fillers of NaMMT-, OHMMT-, and ArMMT-based nanohybrids (fifth sampling), as shown in (Figure S5a−c). The tensile strengths of without/with cryo-treated nanohybrids were with NaMMT (102 and 129 MPa), with OHMMT (170 and 203 MPa), and with ArMMT (185 and 217 MPa). However, Young’s moduli of nanohybrids were with NaMMT (2.7 and 2.5 GPa), with OHMMT (4.8 and 5.1 GPa), and with ArMMT (5.2 and 5.3 GPa). This trend demonstrates that the polymer properties were tailored by cryogenic hybridization. The mechanical data such as tensile strength at maximum, Young’s modulus, and strain energy density are summarized in Figure 4. Tensile strength at maximum monotonously increased by an increase in MMT contents in all MMT types (Figure 4a). ArMMT was the most effective in enhancing the strength up to 244 MPa, presumably because of the improved compatibility of MMT with PA by the modification of the aromatic moiety. The strengths in all of these MMTs were comparable with or higher than that of glass-fiber (30%) reinforced PA 66 (190 MPa; material datasheet of PA66-GF30−BASF Ultramid) which is widely used as an engineering plastic around the world. Young’s modulus of PA/MMT hybrids showed an increase in MMT contents similar to the strength (Figure 4b) and was 5.5 GPa at maximum for a resin with 7 wt % of ArMMT. On the other hand, the value of Young’s modulus at maximum is lower than that of PA66-GF30 (10 GPa), indicating that the resins of the present PA/MMT hybrid were softer than conventional PA66GF30. The elongation behavior of PA hybrids with NaMMT was quite different from those of the other PA/MMT hybrids, as mentioned above. The maximal value was around 20% in 5 or 7 wt % content of NaMMT (Figure 3), which was much higher than that of PA66-GF30. This finding means that

NaMMT showed an enhancing effect on the ductility of PA. The values of strain energy densities to the fiber unit volume were then calculated from the area under stress−strain curves, and the results are summarized in Figure 4c. Strain energy densities of PA/NaMMT hybrids were 21 MJ/m3 at maximum which was much higher than those of other PA/MMT hybrids. This is derived from unique elongation behavior of PA/ NaMMT hybrids with 5 or 7 wt % clay contents which are maintained at around 100 MPa of stress similar to a strong and hard rubber. Overall, three of the MMTs used here had reinforcement effects on PA to enhancing the mechanical strength and hardness. In a departure from the general behavior of reinforcement, however, NaMMT had a ductilization effect that imparted a high elongation value to PA. Because Young’s moduli were enhanced, this is not a simple plasticizing effect. All of the effects of NaMMT on PA were induced to increase the strain energy density, which is very useful for making safer polymer materials. We will now discuss the mechanisms bestowing such good ductilization effects of NaMMT to PA. The stress−strain curves of PA/NaMMT hybrids showed a straight transverse line via the local peak just after initial elasticity similar to a rubber, which might be attributed to the cross-linking formation. However, the covalent network formation was prevented by dissolving the resin in dimethylformamide, which makes us consider some of the strong physical interactions of PA chains with the NaMMT surface. The cryogenic treatment of the hybrids can increase toughness presumably owing to the thermal shrinkage of the polymer matrix dispersed by MMT clay platelets. The cryogenic treatment of the prepared nanohybrid enhances physical interaction between the clay and the polymer. However, as described above, NaMMT has a smaller effect on increasing the mechanical strength and Young’s moduli than organically modified MMTs, so the interaction with PA chains should be intrinsically lower. Then, some of the special domain of PA/NaMMT could play the role of a crosslinking junction. In the previous paper,25 the ring-opening reaction of pyrrolidones in the main chain to form carboxylic acid side groups in an alkaline solution or in water under ultraviolet irradiation was confirmed. We then checked the polymer chain structure of PA/NaMMT resins by the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), 1H NMR, and 13C NMR analyses. In the FTIR spectrogram, we confirmed that a small carbonyl peak of PA/NaMMT samples appeared at 1737 cm−1, suggesting that the ring opened to form carboxylic acid (Figure S6a). Furthermore, 1H NMR in Figure S6b showed that some of the small signals appeared by overlapping with the original 9105

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Figure 5. Tentative mechanism of NaMMT functions to catalyze the ring-opening reaction of pyrrolidone in the main chain to form carboxylic acid that specifically interacts with the MMT surface.

Scheme 1. Formation of the PA from Melt Polycondensation of the Corresponding Salt Monomers and Their Nanohybrids by Adding MMT Clays

Young’s modulus of the prepared composites were 2.2−5.5 GPa and 65−241 MPa, respectively, which were comparable with or higher than those of conventional glass-fiber-reinforced PA 66. PA/NaMMT hybrids with 7 wt % clay content enhanced elongation at break, and the strain energy density peaked at 21 MJ/m3. NaMMT had catalytic effects on the ring opening of the pyrrolidone ring to form carboxylic acid side groups, to induce flexibility in the polymer backbone and a strong interaction of the silicate layer with the polymer chains. These findings can hopefully be extended to the universal combination of polymers having heterocycles with alkalescent fillers to enhance strength, hardness, and ductility, thus opening up a new field of polymer/nanofiller hybrids.

signals of the polymer, but secondary amine or carboxylic acid could not be detected owing to active protons. The 1H NMR analysis showed around 26 mol % conversion of the ringopening reaction. Furthermore, in Figure S7a, the neat PA did not show any small signals, but in Figure S7b, the 13C NMR analysis showed that small signals of PA/NaMMT samples appeared overlapping with the original PA signals, and a new signal assigned to a carboxylic acid peak appeared at 173 ppm. The ring-opening reaction catalyzed by NaMMT platelets with an alkalescent property should enhance the interaction of carboxylate with the surface of NaMMT, as shown in Figure 5. The slight decrease in Tg by hybridizing with NaMMT might be attributed to such a ring-opening reaction to reduce the chain rigidity.





MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials. IA was dedicated as a bioderived diacid from Iwata Chemical Co. Ltd. All clays were obtained from Kunimine Industries Co. Ltd. The clays were used after being preheated in an oven at 200 °C to remove moisture. NaMMT with a cation exchange capacity of 115 mequiv/100 g, MMT treated with benzyl ammonium chloride (ArMMT), and MMT

CONCLUSIONS A representative biomolecule, IA, mass-produced by A. terreus fermentation underwent polycondensation with hexamethylenediamine via salt monomers to develop biobased PAs. Successive cryogenic hybridization with MMTs allowed the creation of strong and ductile resins. The tensile strength and 9106

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were dried at 100 °C overnight before the measurement. The FTIR spectra of the PA nanocomposites were also obtained.

treated with alkyl bis(2-hydroxyethyl)methyl ammonium chloride (OHMMT) were used. NaH2PO4 (Sigma-Aldrich), used as a catalyst for the polymerization of IA-based salt monomers, was used as received without purification. Hexamethylenediamine purchased from Tokyo Chemical Industry (TCI, Japan) was used as a diamine monomer without further purification. Syntheses of Monomers and Polymers. A homogeneous mixture of IA and hexamethylenediamine was prepared by mixing the solution of IA (1 mol) in EtOH (300 mL) and hexamethylenediamine (1 mol) in EtOH (200 mL). The mixture was kept for 30 min at room temperature to form salts as a white solid (92% yield). The resulting solid product was heated at a temperature of 5 °C higher than the onset weight loss temperature of the TGA curve of individual salt monomers. The salt monomers were vigorously agitated at 165−170 °C with 50−60 rpm in the presence of the catalyst NaH2PO4 (0.1 wt %) to be polymerized in bulk. After 18 h, viscous polymer melts were formed. Mw and Mn of the polymer were 84 000 and 36 500, respectively, with a polydispersity index Mw/Mn of 2.31, which was narrow enough to study further. The clay predried overnight at 200 °C was added to the molten polymers at 170 °C, and the temperature was increased to 220 °C slowly with a heating ratio of 10 °C/h under agitation (300 rpm), and the mixture was cryogenically treated under liquid nitrogen for 1 min and was repeated five times, as shown in the Supporting Information. The product was directly spun as fibers from the melted reaction mixture (yields, 90−92 wt %), as shown in Scheme 1. Tensile Strength. Mechanical testing tests of the fibers were performed using a tensile testing machine (INSTRON, Canton City, MA, USA, 3365-L5). Both edges of the fibrous samples with a length over 10 mm were clipped and elongated at a 1 mm/s movement at room temperature. Young’s moduli were defined as the initial inclination of the stress−strain curve. Mechanical strength and elongation at break were analyzed. Strain energy density to volume was estimated from stress− strain curves. Mechanical property values reported here represent an average of the resulting values of specimens. DSC Measurement. DSC has been performed on a DSC apparatus (Seiko Instrument Inc., EXSTARX-DSC7000 SII) where the temperature and heat flow scales were calibrated using indium and tin standards with high purity. The sample weight was in the range of 5−10 mg, and the sample temperatures were scanned from 25 to 250 °C at a rate of 10 °C/min. Thermogravimetric Analysis. Neat PAs, as well as the nanohybrids, were subjected to a TGA machine (SSC/5200 SII Seiko Instruments Inc. equipment).The sample with a weight of 5−10 mg was heated from 25 to 700 °C at a heating rate of 10 °C/min under a nitrogen atmosphere, and the corresponding weight loss was recorded. Transmission Electron Microscopy. TEM observations have been carried out on TEM-7100 Hitachi equipped with a field emission gun. Ultrathin sections of 55−60 nm thickness were cut with a diamond knife at a temperature of −80 °C from the bulk polymer resin using an ultramicrotome. These sections were placed on a copper grid and observed at an accelerating voltage of 100 kV, and bright-field micrographs were recorded. FTIR Spectroscopy. The FTIR spectra of the PAs and salt monomers were recorded on a PerkinElmer spectrum one spectrometer using a diamond attenuated total reflection accessory over the range of 4000−400 cm−1. The samples



ASSOCIATED CONTENT

S Supporting Information *

The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.7b01446. 1 H NMR, 13C NMR, and FTIR of the ring opening of polymer resins; DSC and TGA; and stress−strain curve of the nanohybrid (PDF) Syntheses of monomers and polymers, TGA curves of PA nanohybrids with NaMMT, DSC thermograms of PA hybrids, stress−strain curves of PA hybrids, FTIR spectrogram and 1H NMR spectroscopy for the neat PA, and 13C NMR analysis of neat PAs and analysis of composites (PPT) Formation of PA, TEM micrographs of the PA/NaMMT hybrid, DSC thermograms of the PA/MMT nanohybrids, stress−strain curves of PA/NaMMT hybrids, mechanical properties of PA/MMT nanohybrids, and tentative mechanism of NaMMT functions to catalyze the ring-opening reaction (PPT) Stress−strain curve of PA to PA/NAMMT hybrid (PPT)



AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

*E-mail: [email protected]. Phone: +81-761-51-1631. Fax: +81-761-51-1635 (T.K.). ORCID

Mohammad Asif Ali: 0000-0002-5717-5659 Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was mainly financially supported by the Advanced Low Carbon Technology Research and Development Program (JST ALCA, 5100270), Tokyo, Japan.



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