Abstract
The effect of incorporating cellulose nanocrystals from corncob (CNC) on the tensile, thermal, and barrier properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposites was evaluated. The CNC were prepared by sulfuric acid hydrolysis at 45°C for 60 minutes, using 15 mL of H2SO4(9.17 M) for each gram of fiber. The CNC60presented a needle-shaped morphology, high crystallinity (83.7%), good initial degradation temperature (236°C), average length (L) of210.8±44.2 nm, diameter (D) of4.15±1.08 nm, and high aspect ratio (L/D) of53.4±15.8. PVA/CNC nanocomposite films with different filler loading levels (3, 6, and 9% by wt) were prepared by casting. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS), thermal stability (TS), light transmittance (Tr) and water vapor permeability (Pw) of the nanocomposites were measured. When compared to neat PVA film, the UTS of the nanocomposites improved significantly, by 140.2%,Pwdecreased up to 28.73%, and there were no significant changes in TS. The nanocomposites also showed excellent Tr in the visible region, maintaining substantially equivalent transparency. These improvements in the nanocomposites' properties suggest a close association between filler and matrix, besides indicating that the CNC were well dispersed and adherent to the polymer matrix.
Highlights
The growing interest in environmentally friendly materials has motivated academic and industrial research in the development and use of biopolymers for applications in which synthetic polymers or mineral fillers have been traditionally used
The CNC60 were characterized according to their crystallinity index, morphology, and thermal stability
The CNC60 provided a significant improvement in the thermal stability (TS) of the nanocomposites of 140.2% when only 9% of filler had been incorporated
Summary
The growing interest in environmentally friendly materials has motivated academic and industrial research in the development and use of biopolymers for applications in which synthetic polymers or mineral fillers have been traditionally used Toward this end, several biopolymers have been modified to attempt to be competitive with petroleum based polymers with respect to performance and cost. One way to improve the properties of biopolymers and greatly enhance their commercial potential is to incorporate nanosized reinforcement into the polymer [1,2,3] In this context, the application of cellulose nanocrystals (CN) as a nanosized reinforcement in polymer matrixes has attracted considerable attention in this field, since it offers a unique combination of desirable physical properties and environmental benefits [4, 5]. CN are needleshaped cellulose particles with at least one dimension equal to or less than 100 nm and have a highly crystalline nature (almost defect-free crystallites) [7]
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