Preparation of Chitin-PLA laminated composite for implantable application

Abstract

The present study explores the possibilities of using locally available inexpensive waste prawn shell derived chitin reinforced and bioabsorbable polylactic acid (PLA) laminated composites to develop new materials with excellent mechanical and thermal properties for implantable application such as in bone or dental implant. Chitin at different concentration (1–20% of PLA) reinforced PLA films (CTP) were fabricated by solvent casting process and laminated chitin-PLA composites (LCTP) were prepared by laminating PLA film (obtained by hot press method) with CTP also by hot press method at 160 °C. The effect of variation of chitin concentration on the resulting laminated composite's behavior was investigated. The detailed physico-mechanical, surface morphology and thermal were assessed with different characterization technique such as FT-IR, XRD, SEM and TGA. The FTIR spectra showed the characteristic peaks for chitin and PLA in the composites. SEM images showed an excellent dispersion of chitin in the films and composites. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the complete degradation of chitin, PLA film, 5% chitin reinforced PLA film (CTP2) and LCTP are 98%, 95%, 87% and 98% respectively at temperature of 500 °C. The tensile strength of the LCTP was found 25.09 MPa which is significantly higher than pure PLA film (18.55 MPa) and CTP2 film (8.83 MPa). After lamination of pure PLA and CTP2 film, the composite (LCTP) yielded 0.265–1.061% water absorption from 30 min to 24 h immerse in water that is much lower than PLA and CTP. The increased mechanical properties of the laminated films with the increase of chitin content indicated good dispersion of chitin into PLA and strong interfacial actions between the polymer and chitin. The improvement of mechanical properties and the results of antimicrobial and cytotoxicity of the composites also evaluated and revealed the composite would be a suitable candidate for implant application in biomedical sector.

The Role of Two-Step Blending in the Properties of Starch/Chitin/Polylactic Acid Biodegradable Composites for Biomedical Applications

“…The elastic modulus value showed that the stiffness of the PLA was enhanced with the addition of chitin and reduced starch content. The stiffness of the composite could be attributed to the combined effect of the brittleness of starch and the enhanced toughness of chitin [22,31]. The values of the elastic modulus corroborated the possible use of the material for the repair of cancellous bone.…”

“…The shift indicated that the addition of chitin and starch particles exerted a considerable effect on the crystalline properties of PLA. An increase in the starch or chitin blend caused a slight noticeable improvement in the crystallinity of the neat PLA [22,39]. A small improvement was noticed with an increase in starch content, as shown in the degree of crystallinity (DOC) of sample A5 (PLA/2% C/6% S).…”

“…The composition variation in the current study was based on previous research. In their study, Nasrin et al [22] reported a uniform mix of PLA blend between 1% and 10% chitin. Additionally, Zakaria et al [23] have reported that the best mechanical properties of a PLA/chitin composite are with 5% chitin.…”

Plasticizer Enhancement on the Miscibility and Thermomechanical Properties of Polylactic Acid-Chitin-Starch Composites

“…The tensile strength is seen to reduce with an increase in starch content and decrease chitin content. This is an indication of the miscibility of the three polymer blends [12,24]. Also, the increase in tensile strength is between 59% to 85%.…”

“…This miscibility of the polymer composite can be attributed to the use of chloroform as the plasticizer and the interfacial bonding of PLA/chitin and chitin /starch. Chitin has been reported to act as a compatibilizer between PLA and starch [12,24,25,29,30]. The images are characterized with network flakes of starch-chitin blends and edges with no voids.…”