scholarly journals Fabrication and Characterization of Biodegradable Composites from Poly (Butylene Succinate-Co-Butylene Adipate) and Taihu Lake Blue Algae

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 096369351702600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjing Xia ◽  
Nianqing Zhu ◽  
Zhongbin Ni ◽  
Mingqing Chen

Biodegradable composites from poly (butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA) and Taihu Lake (Wuxi, China) blue algae were prepared by melt blending. The property and structure of biocomposites were investigated. By adding extra amount of water to blue algae, the formulated blue algae acted as a plastic in the composites during blending, and exhibited a reinforcing effect on the PBSA matrix. With increasing blue algae content, the thermal stability of the composites decreased; the tensile strength at break and elongation at break of the composites reduced, but the Young's modulus of the composites increased. However, the composite with 30% blue algae loading still exhibited good mechanical performance (tensile strength at break of 21.3 MPa, elongation at break of 180%). The fabrication of value-added PBSA/algae composites appeared as an effective approach to reduce the secondary environmental pollution of Taihu blue algae.

2018 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 02007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Chee Lee ◽  
Seong Chun Koay ◽  
Ming Yeng Chan ◽  
Ming Meng Pang ◽  
Pui May Chou ◽  
...  

Polylactic acid (PLA) is biodegradable thermoplastic that made from renewable raw material, but its high cost limited the application. Thus, addition of natural fiber can be effectively reduced the cost of PLA. This research is utilised natural fiber extracted from durian husk to made PLA biocomposites. This paper is focus on the effect of fiber content on tensile and thermal properties of PLA/durian husk fiber (DHF) biocomposites. The results found that the tensile strength and modulus of this biocomposites increased with increase of fiber content, but the strength still lower compared to neat PLA. Then, the elongation at break of biocomposites was expected decreased at higher fiber content. The PLA/DHF biocomposites with 60 phr fiber content exhibited tensile strength of 11 MPa, but it is too brittle yet for any application. The addition of DHF caused an early thermal degradation on PLA biocomposites. Then, the thermal stability of PLA biocomposites was decreased with more fiber content.


2018 ◽  
Vol 917 ◽  
pp. 3-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Haniff ◽  
Mohd Bijarimi ◽  
M.S. Zaidi ◽  
Ahmad Sahrim

PLA has limited applications due to its inherent brittleness, toughness and low elongation at break. One of the options for improvement is through blending with polyoxymethylene (POM). Melt blending of polylactic acid (PLA) and polyoxymethylene (POM) at 90/10 PLA/POM composition was carried out in a twin-screw extruder. The PLA/POM was loaded with 1 – 5 wt.% of nanoclay (Cloisite C20). The blends were then characterized for mechanical, morphological, chemical and thermal properties. It was found that tensile strength, Young's modulus, and elongation at break improved when the loadings of nanoclay were increased. Chemical analysis by FTIR revealed that PLA/POM blend is immiscible.


2013 ◽  
Vol 745-746 ◽  
pp. 436-441
Author(s):  
Pei Liu ◽  
Long Chen ◽  
Jun Xu ◽  
Mei Fang Zhu ◽  
Zong Yi Qin

Biodegradable composites were prepared by adding hyperbranched poly (ester amide) (HBPs) into poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydrovalerate) (PHBV) through melt blending method. It was found that the tensile strength and toughness of PHBV were simultaneously enhanced by the addition of HBPs. Compared with neat PHBV, the tensile strength of the composite increased about 23% from 20.96 to 25.87 MPa for the content of 2.5 wt.% HBPs, and more remarkable enhancement in tensile elongation at break can be achieved by about 88% for 5 wt.% HBPs. The influences of HBPs on crystallization, thermal and fracture morphologies of PHBV were further evaluated by using differential scanning calorimeter and scanning electron microscope, respectively. The decrease in the crystallinity of PHBV and high dispersion of the HBPs in PHBV matrix were observed, which should contribute to the improvement on the mechanical properties of PHBV.


2011 ◽  
Vol 194-196 ◽  
pp. 484-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian Zhong Mo ◽  
Chen Mo ◽  
Xiang Qi ◽  
Ren Huan Li

Biopolymer cassava starch(ST)-chitosan(CS)/montmorillonite(MMT) nanocomposites were prepared in which MMT was used as nanofiller and diluted acetic acid was used as solvent for dissolving and dispersing cassava starch, chitosan and MMT. XRD and TEM results indicated the formation of an exfoliated nanostructure of ST-CS/MMT nanocomposites. Mechanical properties testing revealed that at the range of the MMT content from 1wt% to 5wt%, tensile strength of the composites increased from 30MPa to 37.5MPa. But the elongation at break fall from 28% to 22% with the increasing of MMT. Obviously, MMT had an enforced effect to the composites. TGA results showed that the nano-dispersed MMT improved the thermal stability of the matrix systematically with the increasing of MMT.


2011 ◽  
Vol 311-313 ◽  
pp. 335-338
Author(s):  
Hao Wu ◽  
You Ming Cao

The composites composed of PVC, NBR and BaSO4 particles were prepared by melt blending method. The mechanical properties, microstructure and thermal stability of the composites were investigated. The results indicated that the elongation at break of PVC was greatly improved by addition of NBR, while the tensile strength was decreased. The elongation at break and the tensile strength of PVC/NBR composites first increased and then decreased with the increasing content of BaSO4, and the maximum were emerged at 5phr BaSO4 addition. The initial decomposition temperature of the composites composed of PVC, NBR and BaSO4 is 10.79°C greater than that of the composites composed of PVC and NBR. The scanning electron microscopy photograph showed that NBR and BaSO4 particles were uniformly dispersed in the PVC matrix when the addition of NBR and BaSO4 particles was low.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 741-747
Author(s):  
Liguang Zhang ◽  
Yanan Shen ◽  
Wenjing Lu ◽  
Lengqiu Guo ◽  
Min Xiang ◽  
...  

Background: Although the stability of proteins is of significance to maintain protein function for therapeutical applications, this remains a challenge. Herein, a general method of preserving protein stability and function was developed using gelatin films. Method: Enzymes immobilized onto films composed of gelatin and Ethylene Glycol (EG) were developed to study their ability to stabilize proteins. As a model functional protein, β-glucosidase was selected. The tensile properties, microstructure, and crystallization behavior of the gelatin films were assessed. Result: Our results indicated that film configurations can preserve the activity of β-glucosidase under rigorous conditions (75% relative humidity and 37°C for 47 days). In both control films and films containing 1.8 % β-glucosidase, tensile strength increased with increased EG content, whilst the elongation at break increased initially, then decreased over time. The presence of β-glucosidase had a negligible influence on tensile strength and elongation at break. Scanning electron-microscopy (SEM) revealed that with increasing EG content or decreasing enzyme concentrations, a denser microstructure was observed. Conclusion: In conclusion, the dry film is a promising candidate to maintain protein stabilization and handling. The configuration is convenient and cheap, and thus applicable to protein storage and transportation processes in the future.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2139
Author(s):  
Wei Shian Tey ◽  
Chao Cai ◽  
Kun Zhou

Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) is a recently developed polymeric powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing technique that has received considerable attention in the industrial and scientific community due to its ability to fabricate functional and complex polymeric parts efficiently. In this work, a systematic characterization of the physicochemical properties of MJF-certified polyamide 11 (PA11) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) powder was conducted. The mechanical performance and print quality of the specimens printed using both powders were then evaluated. Both PA11 and TPU powders showed irregular morphology with sharp features and had broad particle size distribution, but such features did not impair their printability significantly. According to the DSC scans, the PA11 specimen exhibited two endothermic peaks, while the TPU specimen exhibited a broad endothermic peak (116–150 °C). The PA11 specimens possessed the highest tensile strength in the Z orientation, as opposed to the TPU specimens which possessed the lowest tensile strength along the same orientation. The flexural properties of the PA11 and TPU specimens displayed a similar anisotropy where the flexural strength was highest in the Z orientation and lowest in the X orientation. The porosity values of both the PA11 and the TPU specimens were observed to be the lowest in the Z orientation and highest in the X orientation, which was the opposite of the trend observed for the flexural strength of the specimens. The PA11 specimen possessed a low coefficient of friction (COF) of 0.13 and wear rate of 8.68 × 10−5 mm3/Nm as compared to the TPU specimen, which had a COF of 0.55 and wear rate of 0.012 mm3/Nm. The PA11 specimens generally had lower roughness values on their surfaces (Ra < 25 μm), while the TPU specimens had much rougher surfaces (Ra > 40 μm). This investigation aims to uncover and explain phenomena that are unique to the MJF process of PA11 and TPU while also serving as a benchmark against similar polymeric parts printed using other PBF processes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongfang Qian ◽  
Zhen Zhang ◽  
Laijiu Zheng ◽  
Ruoyuan Song ◽  
Yuping Zhao

Design and fabrication of nanofibrous scaffolds should mimic the native extracellular matrix. This study is aimed at investigating electrospinning of polycaprolactone (PCL) blended with chitosan-gelatin complex. The morphologies were observed from scanning electron microscope. As-spun blended mats had thinner fibers than pure PCL. X-ray diffraction was used to analyze the degree of crystallinity. The intensity at two peaks at 2θof 21° and 23.5° gradually decreased with the percentage of chitosan-gelatin complex increasing. Moreover, incorporation of the complex could obviously improve the hydrophilicity of as-spun blended mats. Mechanical properties of as-spun nanofibrous mats were also tested. The elongation at break of fibrous mats increased with the PCL content increasing and the ultimate tensile strength varied with different weight ratios. The as-spun mats had higher tensile strength when the weight ratio of PCL to CS-Gel was 75/25 compared to pure PCL. Both as-spun PCL scaffolds and PCL/CS-Gel scaffolds supported the proliferation of porcine iliac endothelial cells, and PCL/CS-Gel had better cell viability than pure PCL. Therefore, electrospun PCL/Chitosan-gelatin nanofibrous mats with weight ratio of 75/25 have better hydrophilicity mechanical properties, and cell proliferation and thus would be a promising candidate for tissue engineering scaffolds.


2013 ◽  
Vol 747 ◽  
pp. 645-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koay Seong Chun ◽  
Salmah Husseinsyah ◽  
Hakimah Osman

Polypropylene/Cocoa Pod Husk (PP/CPH) biocomposites with different maleated polypropylene (MAPP) content were prepared via melt blending process using Brabender Plastrograph mixer. The tensile strength and tensile modulus of PP/CPH biocomposites increased with increasing of MAPP content. The PP/CPH biocomposites with 5 phr of MAPP showed the optimum improvement on tensile properties. However, the increased of MAPP content reduced the elongation at break of PP/CPH biocomposites. At 5 phr of MAPP content, PP/CPH biocomposites showed lowest elongation at break. Scanning electron microscope confirms the PP/CPH biocomposites with MAPP have better filler-matrix interaction and adhesion due to the effect of MAPP.


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 435-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsin-Tzu Liao ◽  
Chin-San Wu

Abstract Melt blending of polylactide (PLA), poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), and wood flour (WF) was performed in an effort to overcome the major drawbacks (brittleness and high price) of PLA. In addition, the acrylic acid (AA)-grafted PLA70PCL30 (PLA70PCL30-g-AA) was used as the alternative for the preparation of ternary blends to improve the compatibility and the dispersability of WF within the PLA70PCL30 matrix. As expected, PCL improved the elongation at break and the toughness of PLA but decreased the tensile strength and modulus. Because the hydrophilic WF is dispersed physically in the hydrophobic PLA70PCL30 matrix, as the result of Fourier transform infrared analysis, the mechanical properties of PLA70PCL30 became noticeably worse when it was blended with WF. This problem was successfully conquered by using PLA70PCL30-g-AA to replace PLA70PCL30 due to the formation of an ester carbonyl group between PLA70PCL30-g-AA and WF. Furthermore, the PLA70PCL30-g-AA/WF blend provided a plateau tensile strength at break when the WF content was up to 50 wt%. PLA70PCL30/WF exhibited a tensile strength at break of approximately 3–25 MPa more than PLA70PCL30-g-AA/WF. By using p-cresol and tyrosinase, the enzymatic biodegradable test showed that PLA70PCL30-g-AA is somewhat more biodegradable than PLA70PCL30 because the former has better water absorption. After 16 weeks, the weight loss of the PLA70PCL30/WF (50 wt%) composite was >80%. PLA70PCL30-g-AA/WF exhibited a weight loss of approximately 1–12 wt% more than PLA70PCL30-g-AA/WF. It was also found that the addition of WF to PLA70PCL30 or PLA70PCL30-g-AA decreased the crystallinity of PLA and PCL in PLA70PCL30 or PLA70PCL30-g-AA and then increased their biodegradable property.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document