Structure-related properties of bionanocomposites based on poly(lactic acid), cellulose nanocrystals and organic impact modifier

ABSTRACT

Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) as a leading biobased, biodegradable and biocompatible thermoplastic still faces important industrial problems such as a slow crystallization, low thermal stability, and low impact resistance. This problem is addressed by the addition of nucleation agents based on cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and lignin-coated cellulose nanocrystals (L-CNCs) to increase nucleation density, enhance higher crystallization rate and increase the thermal stability. However, the effectiveness of CNCs/L-CNCs incorporation strongly depends on the quality of the dispersion and distribution in non-polar PLA matrix. The two-step pre dispersion processes based on solution ultra-sonication/mechanical stirring and masterbatch preparation by melt mixing using an internal mixer has been used. An organic impact modifier masterbatch has been used to increase the impact toughness that depends on many extrinsic and intrinsic variables. Injection molding technology has been used to prepare final samples and these were characterized by means of structure-morphology investigation, thermal and impact properties evaluation.

KEYWORDS:

• Bio-nanocomposites
• poly (lactic acid)
• cellulose nanocrystals
• lignin coating
• organic impact modifier

Acknowledgments

This publication was written at the Technical University of Liberec (TUL) as part of the Student Grant Contest “SGS 21180” with the support of the Specific University Research Grant, as provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic in the year 2018.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the [Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic] throught the European Union European Structural and Investment Funds in the frames of Operational Programme Research, Development and Education under project Hybrid Materials for Hierarchical Structures [grant number CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000843].