Bacterial Cellulose Nanofiber Reinforced Poly (lactic acid) Nanocomposite

Abstract

The objective of the present work is to investigate the impact of the modified BC nanofibers orientation in poly (lactic acid) (PLA)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) blends (porous and nonporous) on the mechanical properties and thermal properties. A new class of PLA/PEG biocomposites containing BC nanofibers was successfully fabricated using solution casting technique followed by silane coupling agent of BC grafting into PLA/PEG chains. The mechanical properties were investigated with and without developing the porosity for PLA/PEG. The results revealed that incorporating BC nanofibers into PLA/PEG enhanced mechanical properties, but this improvement set up at BC nanofiber loading (5wt%). The tensile strength increased from 13MPa for PLA/PEG to 18MPa after the addition of 5wt% BC. The young’s modulus was significantly increased upon increased BC content. Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) results revealed that the BC 5% nanofiber improved glass transition temperature (Tg) to 57°C, melting temperature (Tm) to 171°C, and crystallinity (χ%) to 43% of PLA/PEG reinforced-BC-5%. These results are of significant interest to further expand the use of PLA in biomedical applications.