Abstract
Nanocellulose has potential as a reinforcing agent to improve stiffness and strength in polymer fiber; however, the inherent difference in hydrophilicity makes it challenging to incorporate it into nonhydrophilic polymers, and the composite properties are strongly anisotropic. In the present work, a dual approach was employed to incorporate cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) into polylactic acid (PLA). Polyethylene glycol (PEG) acted as a compatibilizating agent to enable the melt spinning of CNF/PLA composite fibers without water/solvent, and CNFs were surface modified to improve compatibility, increase nanoparticle thermal stability, and increase CNF dispersion in PLA. While no significant difference was observed in strength, the stiffness improved up to 600% (1.3 wt % CNF, maximum draw) in the composite fibers. This improvement was correlated with the crystallinity and fiber orientation (Herman's order parameter) for as-spun and hot-drawn fibers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 160-168 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | ACS Applied Polymer Materials |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 8 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors would like to acknowledge financial support from the Private-Public Partnership for Nanotechnology in the Forestry Sector (P3Nano) under Grant 107528, the Forest Products Laboratory Grant 17000384, and National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship: Sustainable Electronics Grant 1144843.
Keywords
- CNF
- melt-spinning
- nanocellulose
- nanocomposites
- polylactic acid
- processing