Improvement of Electret Properties of Polylactide by Loading Mineral Fillers

The article describes the effect of fine mineral fillers (aerosil, bentonite, mica, and talc) on the properties of electret materials based on polylactide. Compositions of the polymer with 4% fillers content showed the best performances. Loading of the fillers results in a slight increase of specific volume resistivity of the samples. IR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry show no significant change in chemical structure and glass transition temperature and flow (melting) point of the filler-loaded polylactide. Addition of fillers reduces melt flow index (MFI) and elongation at a break with almost no change in ultimate tensile strength.