Environmental, safety, and economical concerns relating to the use of oil based polymers have made scientists and industrialists to look for biocompatible and biodegradable substitutes for them. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable polymer which is a promising substitute for oil based polymers. In this project, polylactic acid/halloysite nanotube (PLA/HNT) nanocomposite films are fabricated and the influence of HNT addition and solid state uniaxial drawing as a mechanical modification method on mechanical and thermal properties of the films are investigated. A tensile testing machine equipped with a heating chamber is used for solid state drawing and the influence of various drawing conditions like ratio, temperature, and speed are investigated to obtain the highest properties. Uniaxial tensile testing is used to explore mechanical properties of the films before and after solid state drawing. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) are used to investigate thermal, structural, and morphological properties of the samples. Tensile testing results showed the maximum strength of 160.1 MPa for nanocomposites drawn with a ratio of 3 and 50 mm/min speed at 80 ?C after solid state drawing. Maximum increase in glass transition temperature (Tg) (approximately 20 ?C) and the amount of crystallinity was also for this sample. The highest increase in toughness (2346 %) was for the sample drawn with a ratio of 2 and 50 mm/min speed at 80 ?C. X-ray diffraction patterns indicated an increase in the amount of crystallinity for the drawn samples which was in agreement with tensile and DSC results. FE-SEM images showed a better distribution of nanotubes in the polymeric matrix after the drawing. Overall, the results show the efficiency of HNT addition and solid state drawing to enhance PLA properties. This project broadens the applications of PLA especially in packaging and medical applications like wound dressing. Keywords: Polylactic acid, Nanocomposite, Mechanical properties, Thermal properties
