Effect of Chitin Nanocrystals on Crystallization and Properties of Poly(lactic acid)-Based Nanocomposites

The crystalline phase of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) has crucial effects on its own properties and nanocomposites. In this study, the isothermal crystallization of PLA, triethyl citrate-plasticized PLA (PLA-TEC), and its nanocomposite with chitin nanocrystals (PLA-TEC-ChNC) at different temperatures and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polymers 2020-03, Vol.12 (3), p.726
Main Authors: Singh, Shikha, Patel, Mitul, Schwendemann, Daniel, Zaccone, Marta, Geng, Shiyu, Maspoch, Maria Lluisa, Oksman, And Kristiina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
barrier properties
Chitin
chitin nanocrystals
Crystal structure
Crystallinity
Crystallites
Crystallization
Degradation
Fourier transforms
hydrolytic degradation
Investigations
Laboratories
liquid-assisted extrusion
Mechanical properties
Microscopy
Morphology
Nanocomposites
Nanocrystals
Nucleation
Permeability
poly(lactic acid)
Polyethylene terephthalate
Polylactic acid
Polymers
Properties (attributes)
Solvents
Trä och bionanokompositer
Wood and Bionanocomposites
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Summary:The crystalline phase of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) has crucial effects on its own properties and nanocomposites. In this study, the isothermal crystallization of PLA, triethyl citrate-plasticized PLA (PLA-TEC), and its nanocomposite with chitin nanocrystals (PLA-TEC-ChNC) at different temperatures and times was investigated, and the resulting properties of the materials were characterized. Both PLA and PLA-TEC showed extremely low crystallinity at isothermal temperatures of 135, 130, 125 °C and times of 5 or 15 min. In contrast, the addition of 1 wt % of ChNCs significantly improved the crystallinity of PLA under the same conditions owing to the nucleation effect of the ChNCs. The samples were also crystallized at 110 °C to reach their maximal crystallinity, and PLA-TEC-ChNC achieved 48% crystallinity within 5 min, while PLA and PLA-TEC required 40 min to reach a similar level. Moreover, X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the addition of ChNCs resulted in smaller crystallite sizes, which further influenced the barrier properties and hydrolytic degradation of the PLA. The nanocomposites had considerably lower barrier properties and underwent faster degradation compared to PLA-TEC110. These results confirm that the addition of ChNCs in PLA leads to promising properties for packaging applications.
ISSN:2073-4360
2073-4360
DOI:10.3390/polym12030726