Utilization of an ionic liquid/urea mixture as a physical coupling agent for agarose/talc composite films

• Main Authors: Shamsuri, Ahmad Adlie, Daik, Rusli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2013
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/78041/1/78041.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/78041/; https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/6/2/682
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

An ionic liquid, 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl) was blended with urea at 1:1 mole ratio to create a BmimCl/Urea mixture. The agarose/talc composite films containing the BmimCl/Urea mixture were then acquired through a gelation method. The weight ratio of agarose and talc was fixed at 4:1, while the content of BmimCl/Urea was varied from 0 to 10 wt % relative to the overall weight of the composite films. The tensile stress and modulus results showed the optimum BmimCl/Urea content in the composite film lies at 8 wt %. The talc particles are embedded in the agarose matrix and there are no pullouts for the composite films containing BmimCl/Urea as demonstrated by SEM micrographs. The addition of BmimCl/Urea increased the glass transition temperature of the composite films, however, the thermal decomposition temperature decreased drastically. FTIR and FT-Raman spectra indicated the existence of interaction between agarose and talc, which improves their interfacial adhesion. As a conclusion, a BmimCl/Urea mixture can be utilized as a coupling agent for agarose/talc composite films.