Preparation and properties of polyvinyl alcoholchitosan/attapulgite composites

The attapulgite(AT) were dispersed into polyvinyl alcohol(PVA)-chitosan(CS) matrix to get polyvinyl alcohol-chitosan/attapulgite composites through blending method with different compositions. Effects of amount of attapulgite(compare to total mass of polyvinyl alcohol and chitosan) on the properties of polyvinyl alcohol-chitosan/attapulgite composites were investigated. The mechanical properties showed that when the dosage of attapulgite were 5%,the mechanical properties of the polyvinyl alcohol-chitosan/attapulgite composites were the best. The composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra(FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). The results indicated that the mechanical performance of composites was improved due to the strong interaction between polyvinyl alcohol,chitosan and attapulgite. The structure of the polyvinyl alcohol- chitosan shown by SEM was tight. Attapulgite inserted into the polyvinyl alcohol- chitosan matrix uniformly was basically composed of nano-rods.