Physico-chemical, rheological, and antiviral properties of poly(butylene succinate) composites with terpene-hydrophobized montmorillonites

The aim of the work was to obtain poly(butylene succinate) – PBS films with an addition of natural sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMT) modified with two selected terpenes: pinene (P) and limonene (L) or their mixture (PL) and examine their physico-chemical, rheological and antimicrobial properties. Na-MMT was effectively hydrophobized and intercalated (confirmed with FTIR, TGA and XRD analysis) with the terpenes via solventless method. The biopolymeric composites were obtained via extrusion, and the films were formed using thermo-compression molding. The addition of the fillers slightly increased mechanical properties, but barrier properties towards oxygen and water vapor were significantly improved without alternation of polymer morphology (SEM, XRD, FTIR), thermal and thermomechanical properties, despite high filler content (10 wt%) in the polymer matrix. PBS/M, PBS/M-L, and PBS/M-PL exhibited antiviral properties tested using Φ6 phage.