Study on polylactic acid/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene composites filled with micro- crystalline cellulose

Abstract

The effect of surface treatment by using silane coupling agent with varying ratio of micro -crystalline cellulose (MCC) on polylactic acid (PLA) / acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) blend system were investigated. The study had focused on the blend modification onto the mechanical, structural, morphological and biodegradability properties of PLA/ABS blends. The study showed that the tensile properties of the PLA/ABS blends were deterioriated with increasing in MCC content. The interfacial adhesion was approach by using silane treatment caused by the incorporation of MCC and coupling agent. According to the results, the addition of MCC and surface treatment showed an increasing better in tensile properties as compared to the standardized counterpart. On top of that, the morphological analysis by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) found out that the interfacial adhesion of MCC was improved in both systems which is with and without silane treatement. Both of the systems was obtained having a weight loss during the soil burial test and the biodegradation process in PLA/ABS/MCC blends as proven in biodegradability analysis.