Polycaprolactone/modified bagasse whisker nanocomposites with improved moisture‐barrier and biodegradability properties

Abstract

Bagasse whiskers isolated from bleached bagasse pulp were chemically modified with n‐octadecyl isocyanate in the presence of dibutyltin dilaurate as a catalyst. The modified cellulose whiskers were used in ratios from 2.5 to 15% with polycaprolactone (PCL) polymer to prepare nanocomposite films by a solution/casting technique. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized with regard to their biodegradability in soil and moisture‐barrier, moisture sorption, mechanical, thermal, and thermomechanical properties. The use of the modified cellulose whiskers resulted in improvements in the moisture‐barrier, biodisintegration, and tensile properties of PCL. The nanocomposites containing different modified whisker loadings had very low moisture absorption (1.88–2.49%) after 4 weeks of exposure to 75% relative humidity, but these values were slightly higher than that of neat PCL (1.79%). Modified whiskers in the PCL matrix did not noticeably affect the glass‐transition and melting temperatures of PCL. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012

Fabrication and applications of cellulose nanoparticle‐based polymer composites

“…Bio-disintegration studies of the PCL/cellulose whisker nanocomposites in soil were carried out and an increase in the biodisintegration was found after addition of 7.5% modified whiskers. At higher loadings of modified cellulose whiskers, the weight loss tended to decrease, but it was still higher than that of neat PCL [74]. The effect of compatibility on the biodegradation of cellulose nanofiber reinforced composites has not been quantified till now with relation to the mechanical performances.…”

Nanocellulose in Thin Films, Coatings, and Plies for Packaging Applications: A Review

“…The nanocellulose in those products made it possible to maintain a stable mesoporous structure, and the films showed promise for use in air filtration. Non-aqueous media When the matrix phase to be reinforced by nanocellulose is too hydrophobic to dissolve in water, non-aqueous solvents have been employed in the preparation of such films and coatings (Grunert and Winter 2002;Petersson and Oksman 2006; SanchezGarcia et al 2008; Ayuk et al 2009;Petersson et al 2009;Hossain et al 2011;Fortunati et al 2012b;Hassan et al 2012;Salmieri et al 2014b;Song et al 2014;Fortunati et al 2015;Kiziltas et al 2015;Urbina et al 2016). By employing a solvent with a sufficiently low boiling point, the film preparation can be carried out with good distribution of the reinforcement, suitably low viscosity to allow easy spreading of the film, ready evaporation REVIEW ARTICLE bioresources.com .…”

“…Secondly, the tiny dimensions of nanocellulose imply a high exposure to its surroundings. The issue of biodegradation has been emphasized in studies in which nanocellulose was used in composite structures with other natural film-forming materials (Lu et al 2008;Ma et al 2008;Cheng et al 2009;Wan et al 2009; Azeredo et al 2010;Bras et al 2010;Khan et al 2010Khan et al , 2012Khan et al , 2014bSiro and Plackett 2010;da Silva et al 2012;Hassan et al 2012;Johnsy and Siddaramaiah 2012;Tang et al 2012; Baheti and Militky 2013; ChingaCarrasco et al 2013;Ollier et al 2013; Bhardwaj et al 2014;Dehnad et al 2014a;Fortunati et al 2014;Ghaderi et al 2014;Khalil et al 2014;Kumar et al 2014;Marais et al 2014;Reddy and Rhim 2014;Song et al 2014;Yang et al 2014; Azizi Samir et al 2015; Feng et al 2015a;Figueiredo et al 2015;Honorato et al 2015;Lavoine et al 2015;Li et al 2015a;Lu et al 2015; Youssef et al REVIEW ARTICLE bioresources.com . "Nanocellulose in packaging," BioResources 12(1), 2143-2233.…”

“…Grunert and Winter (2002) pioneered the modification of nanocellulose for such systems, using trimethylsilane to make the surface of bacterial cellulose less hydrophilic. Several other research groups have employed related strategies to hydrophobically modify nanocellulose materials for use in solvent-casting with a hydrophobic matrix (Hassan et al 2012;Song et al 2014). Alternatively, Fortunati et al (2012b) found that uniform mixing of un-modified nanocellulose in such a system could be achieved by adding a surfactant, due to reduction in surface energy of nanocellulose by surfactants.…”

Blendas PBSA/PCL reforçadas com nanowhiskers de celulose enxertados com PCL

“…O efeito de reforço a partir da incorporação dos nanowhiskers pode ter levado ao aumento de quase duas vezes no módulo elástico dos compósitos se comparados com os polímeros puros e as blendas puras, diminuindo significativamente os valores de porcentagem de deformação (JANOOBI et al, 2010;JIANG et al, 2008;HAQUE et al, 2012;HASSAN et al, 2012).…”