Abstract
Recently, biocomposites have emerged as materials of great interest to the scientists and industry around the globe. Among various polymers, polylactic acid (PLA) is a popular matrix material with high potential for advanced applications. Various particulate materials and nanoparticles have been used as the filler in PLA based matrix. One of the extensively studied filler is cellulose. However, cellulose fibres, due to their hydrophilic nature, are difficult to blend with a hydrophobic polymer matrix. This leads to agglomeration and creates voids, reducing the mechanical strength of the resulting composite. Moreover, the role of the various forms of pure cellulose and its particle shape factors has not been analyzed in most of the current literature. Therefore, in this work, materials of various shapes and shape factors were selected as fillers for the production of polymer composites using Polylactic acid as a matrix to fill this knowledge gap. In particular, pure cellulose fibres (three types with different elongation coefficient) and two mineral nanocomponents: precipitated calcium carbonate and montmorillonite were used. The composites were prepared by a melt blending process using two different levels of fillers: 5% and 30%. Then, the analysis of their thermomechanical and physico-chemical properties was carried out. The obtained results were presented graphically and discussed in terms of their shape and degree of filling.
Highlights
The global consumption of biodegradable plastics and composites is a growing market in which European countries are at the fore
The results influence obtained in this showed that the aspect ratiohas of anbeen introduced filler plays a key role inshowed the material end the properties
Results obtained in this study that aspect ratio of an introduced filler plays
Summary
The number of applications in which petroleum-derived plastics are replaced with biodegradable materials, known as “green plastics”, has been rapidly growing. They are very often used in the form of biocomposites, where both the matrix and the filler are of natural origin [1,2,3,4,5]. The global consumption of biodegradable plastics and composites is a growing market in which European countries are at the fore. The overall European consumption of such materials is well above 50%
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