Starch-based nanocomposites reinforced with flax cellulose nanocrystals

Abstract

Abstract. In this study, the cellulose crystals, prepared by acid hydrolysis of flax fiber, consisted of slender rods with lengths ranging from 100 to 500 nm and diameters ranging from 10 to 30 nm, respectively. After mixing the suspension of flax cellulose nanocrystals (FCNs) and plasticized starch (PS), the nanocomposite films were obtained by the casting method. The effects of FCNs loading on the morphology, thermal behaviour, mechanical properties and water sensitivity of the films were investigated by means of wide-angle X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, tensile testing, and water absorption testing. Scanning electron microscopy photographs of the failure surfaces clearly demonstrated a homogeneous dispersion of FCNs within the PS matrix and strong interfacial adherence between matrix and fillers, which led to an increase of glass transition temperature ascribed to the starch molecular chains in the starch-rich phase. In particular, these nanocomposite films exhibited a significant increase in tensile strength and Young's modulus from 3.9 to 11.9 MPa and from 31.9 to 498.2 MPa, respectively, with increasing FCNs content from 0 to 30 wt%. Also, with a loading of FCNs, the resulting nanocomposite films showed a higher water resistance. Therefore, FCNs played an important role in improving the mechanical properties and water resistance of the starch-based materials.

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

“…In some such cases the inclusion of cellulosic reinforcing materials, at suitable levels, has been shown to reduce moisture-sensitivity (Cao et al 2008;Azeredo et al 2009;Bilbao-Sáinz et al 2010;Johnsy and Siddaramaiah 2012;Savadekar et al 2012;Follain et al 2013;Dehnad et al 2014a;Peresin et al 2014;Santos et al 2014). Similar effects have been found when cellulose nanocrystals were used to reinforce a natural rubber matrix (Bras et al 2010) or poly-lactic acid (PLA) (SanchezGarcia and Lagaron 2010;Hossain et al 2011;Fortunati et al 2012b;Martínez-Sanz et al 2012;Song et al 2014).…”

“…In some such cases the inclusion of cellulosic reinforcing materials, at suitable levels, has been shown to reduce moisture-sensitivity (Cao et al 2008; Azeredo et al 2009; Bilbao-Sáinz et al 2010; Johnsy and Siddaramaiah REVIEW ARTICLE bioresources.com . "Nanocellulose in packaging," BioResources 12(1), 2143-2233.…”

“…The nanocellulose in those products made it possible to maintain a stable mesoporous structure, and the films showed promise for use in air filtration. Savadekar et al 2012 Caseinate (Na) Pereda et al 2011 Chitosan Li et al 2009Azeredo et al 2010Fernandes et al 2010Hassan et al 2011Khan et al 2012Liu et al 2013Tome et al 2013Dehnad et al 2014a,b Dong et al 2014Pereda et al 2014Velasquez-Cock et al 2014Feng et al 2015a Svagan et al 2007Cao et al 2008Mathew et al 2008Wan 2009da Silva et al 2012Tome et al 2013Salehudin et al 2014Yang et al 2014Noshivani et al 2016 Xylan Hansen et al 2012 …”

“…Factors affecting the modulus of elasticity (MoE) of nanocellulose-based films have been widely studied (Dufresne et al 1997;Yano and Nakahara 2004;Yano et al 2005;Nogi et al 2009;Qing et al 2012;Visanko et al 2015;Shimizu et al 2016). Also, several studies have shown that the Young's modulus of different polymeric films can be increased by the addition of nanocellulose reinforcements (Cao et al 2008;Azeredo et al 2009Azeredo et al , 2010Martins et al 2009;Bras et al 2010;Fernandes et al 2010;Bilbao-Sáinz et al 2011;Mikkonen et al 2011;Bulota et al 2012;Trovatti et al 2012a,b;Wu et al 2012;Tome et al 2013;Dehnad et al 2014a;Kurihara and Isogai 2014;Pereira et al 2014;Salehudin et al 2014;El-Wakil et al 2015). In general, these studies showed increases in the elastic modulus upon the addition of optimized levels of nanocellulose to a matrix polymer.…”

Bio polyetherurethane composites with high content of natural ingredients: hydroxylated soybean oil based polyol, bio glycol and microcrystalline cellulose

“…Cellulose can be employed in the production of shape memory materials with the polyurethane matrix (Siró and Plackett 2010), plasticized starch-based composites (Cao et al 2008), and PET-PTT blends (Kiziltas et al 2011).…”