48
2 Materials, Methodology and Characterisation Techniques
Fig. 2.4 XRD instrument of a Bruker D8 Advance diffractometer
structures on thermal behaviour of PVA nanocomposite films. DSC was performed
on a Mettler Toledo 1 STARe system, as shown in Fig. 2.6. Approximately 8–10 mg
film samples were sealed in aluminium pans and heated from 35 to 300 °C at a scan
rate of 10 °C/min with a flow rate of 25 ml/min under argon atmosphere. The degree
of crystallinity χ c of PVA matrices in PVA bionanocomposites was calculated as
follows:
χ C (%) =
H m
wwH O
m
× 100%
(2.1)
where H m is the measured melting enthalpy based on DSC data. H
O
m =
138.6 J/g [9] is the enthalpy of fully crystalline PVA and w is the weight fraction
of PVA matrices in corresponding PVA bionanocomposites. Moreover, glass transition temperature (T g ), crystallisation temperature (T c ) and melting temperature (T m )
were determined for PVA bionanocomposite films in DSC data analysis.
2.3.5 Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA)
TGA is used to measure the mass loss of samples when the temperature increases over
time. In this study, TGA was employed to investigate effects of different nanofillers
on thermal degradation of PVA bionanocomposite films. It was also conducted on
2 Materials, Methodology and Characterisation Techniques
Fig. 2.4 XRD instrument of a Bruker D8 Advance diffractometer
structures on thermal behaviour of PVA nanocomposite films. DSC was performed
on a Mettler Toledo 1 STARe system, as shown in Fig. 2.6. Approximately 8–10 mg
film samples were sealed in aluminium pans and heated from 35 to 300 °C at a scan
rate of 10 °C/min with a flow rate of 25 ml/min under argon atmosphere. The degree
of crystallinity χ c of PVA matrices in PVA bionanocomposites was calculated as
follows:
χ C (%) =
H m
wwH O
m
× 100%
(2.1)
where H m is the measured melting enthalpy based on DSC data. H
O
m =
138.6 J/g [9] is the enthalpy of fully crystalline PVA and w is the weight fraction
of PVA matrices in corresponding PVA bionanocomposites. Moreover, glass transition temperature (T g ), crystallisation temperature (T c ) and melting temperature (T m )
were determined for PVA bionanocomposite films in DSC data analysis.
2.3.5 Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA)
TGA is used to measure the mass loss of samples when the temperature increases over
time. In this study, TGA was employed to investigate effects of different nanofillers
on thermal degradation of PVA bionanocomposite films. It was also conducted on