D lactide

PLA Ingeo^TM Biopolymer 2003D was obtained from renewable resources, with a 4% content of D-lactide, supplied by NatureWorks LLC (Minnetonka, MN, USA), in the form of pellets, with a specific gravity of 1.25 g cm⁻³, Mw of 1.43 × 10⁵ g mol⁻¹, Mn of 7.54 × 10⁴ g mol⁻¹, and a dispersity index (Đ_M) of 1.88 was used as a matrix for the developed biocomposites. PLA has been approved by the FDA for direct contact with biological fluids [4 (link)]. Sage (the medicinal plant Salvia officinalis L., S) leaves, commercially available from Fares, Orastie, Romania, were ground and sieved to obtain a fine powder of ~0.2 μm. Cold pressed coconut oil (CO) was purchased from SC Solaris Plant SRL, Bucuresti, Romania. Nanomer^® I.31PS is a surface-modified montmorillonite nanoclay containing 15–35 wt% octadecylamine and 0.5–5 wt% aminopropyltriethoxysilane (Sigma–Aldrich, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) (Figure 11).

PLA 4032D containing around
2% d-lactide (M_w = 2.23 ×
10⁵ g/mol and M_n = 1.06 ×
10⁵ g/mol) was provided by NatureWorks (USA). The Nile
Red dye (NR, C₂₀H₁₈N₂O₂) and 1,4-dioxane (C₄H₈O₂) were
purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (USA). All chemicals were analytical
grade and used as received without further purification. The glass
fiber with a diameter of ∼10 μm was used without surface
modification.

PLA 4032D with about 2% d-lactide (NatureWorks, Minnetonka, MN, USA) was used in the experiments. The average molecular weight (Mw) ranged from 190 to 230 KDa [22 (link)].