scholarly journals Biocomposites from Rice Straw Nanofibers: Morphology, Thermal and Mechanical Properties

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 2138 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Carlos Alcántara ◽  
Israel González ◽  
M. Mercè Pareta ◽  
Fabiola Vilaseca

Agricultural residues are major potential resources for biomass and for material production. In this work, rice straw residues were used to isolate cellulose nanofibers of different degree of oxidation. Firstly, bleached rice fibers were produced from the rice straw residues following chemical extraction and bleaching processes. Oxidation of rice fibers mediated by radical 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl (TEMPO) at pH 10 was then applied to extract rice cellulose nanofibers, with diameters of 3–11 nm from morphological analysis. The strengthening capacity of rice nanofibers was tested by casting nanocomposite films with poly(vinyl alcohol) polymer. The same formulations with eucalyptus nanofibers were produced as comparison. Their thermal and mechanical performance was evaluated using thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis and tensile testing. The glass transition of nanocomposites was shifted to higher temperatures with respect to the pure polymer by the addition of rice cellulose nanofibers. Rice nanofibers also acted as a nucleating agent for the polymer matrix. More flexible eucalyptus nanofibers did not show these two phenomena on the matrix. Instead, both types of nanofibers gave similar stiffening (as Young’s modulus) to the matrix reinforced up to 5 wt.%. The ultimate tensile strength of nanocomposite films revealed significant enhancing capacity for rice nanofibers, although this effect was somehow higher for eucalyptus nanofibers.

Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2459
Author(s):  
Giulia Fredi ◽  
Andrea Dorigato ◽  
Mauro Bortolotti ◽  
Alessandro Pegoretti ◽  
Dimitrios N. Bikiaris

The present work investigates the microstructural, thermo-mechanical, and electrical properties of a promising, but still not thoroughly studied, biobased polymer, i.e., poly(decylene furanoate) (PDeF), and its performance when multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are added. After sample preparation by solution mixing and film casting, the microstructural investigation evidences that the fracture surface becomes smoother and more homogeneous with a small fraction of CNTs, and that the production process is suitable to achieve good disentanglement and dispersion of CNTs within the matrix, although some aggregates are still observable. CNTs act as nucleating agents for PDeF crystals, as evidenced by differential scanning calorimetry, as the crystallinity degree increases from 43.2% of neat PDeF to 55.0% with a CNT content of 2 phr, while the crystallization temperature increases from 68.4 °C of PDeF to 91.7 °C of PDeF-CNT-2. A similar trend in crystallinity is confirmed by X-ray diffraction, after detailed Rietveld analysis with a three-phase model. CNTs also remarkably improve the mechanical performance of the bioderived polymer, as the elastic modulus increases up to 123% and the stress at break up to 131%. The strain at break also increases by +71% when a small amount of 0.25 phr of CNTs are added, which is probably the consequence of a more homogeneous microstructure. The long-term mechanical performance is also improved upon CNT addition, as the creep compliance decreases considerably, which was observed for both the elastic and the viscoelastic component. Finally, the films become electrically dissipative for a CNT content of 1 phr and conductive for a CNT amount of 2 phr. This study contributes to highlight the properties of bioderived furan-based polymer PDeF and evidences the potential of CNTs as a promising nanofiller for this matrix.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1426
Author(s):  
Tomáš Remiš ◽  
Petr Bělský ◽  
Tomáš Kovářík ◽  
Jaroslav Kadlec ◽  
Mina Ghafouri Azar ◽  
...  

In this work, advanced polymer nanocomposites comprising of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and nanodiamonds (NDs) were developed using a single-step solution-casting method. The properties of the prepared PVA/NDs nanocomposites were investigated using Raman spectroscopy, small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). It was revealed that the tensile strength improved dramatically with increasing ND content in the PVA matrix, suggesting a strong interaction between the NDs and the PVA. SEM, TEM, and SAXS showed that NDs were present in the form of agglomerates with an average size of ~60 nm with primary particles of diameter ~5 nm. These results showed that NDs could act as a good nanofiller for PVA in terms of improving its stability and mechanical properties.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 5789
Author(s):  
Olga Mysiukiewicz ◽  
Mateusz Barczewski ◽  
Arkadiusz Kloziński

Polylactide-based composites filled with waste fillers due to their sustainability are a subject of many current papers, in which their structural, mechanical, and thermal properties are evaluated. However, few studies focus on their behavior in low temperatures. In this paper, dynamic and quasi-static mechanical properties of polylactide-based composites filled with 10 wt% of linseed cake (a by-product of mechanical oil extraction from linseed) were evaluated at room temperature and at −40 °C by means of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), Charpy’s impact strength test and uniaxial tensile test. It was found that the effect of plasticization provided by the oil contained in the filler at room temperature is significantly reduced in sub-zero conditions due to solidification of the oil around −18 °C, as it was shown by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and DMA, but the overall mechanical performance of the polylactide-based composites was sufficient to enable their use in low-temperature applications.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 174
Author(s):  
Giulia Fredi ◽  
Cordelia Zimmerer ◽  
Christina Scheffler ◽  
Alessandro Pegoretti

This work focuses on flexible epoxy (EP) composites containing various amounts of neat and polydopamine (PDA)-coated paraffin microcapsules as a phase change material (PCM), which have potential applications as adhesives or flexible interfaces with thermal management capability for electronics or other high-value-added fields. After PDA modification, the surface of PDA-coated capsules (MC-PDA) becomes rough with a globular appearance, and the PDA layer enhances the adhesion with the surrounding epoxy matrix, as shown by scanning electron microscopy. PDA deposition parameters have been successfully tuned to obtain a PDA layer with a thickness of 53 ± 8 nm, and the total PDA mass in MC-PDA is only 2.2 wt %, considerably lower than previous results. This accounts for the fact that the phase change enthalpy of MC-PDA is only marginally lower than that of neat microcapsules (MC), being 221.1 J/g and 227.7 J/g, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry shows that the phase change enthalpy of the prepared composites increases with the capsule content (up to 87.8 J/g) and that the enthalpy of the composites containing MC-PDA is comparable to that of the composites with MC. Dynamic mechanical analysis evidences a decreasing step in the storage modulus of all composites at the glass transition of the EP phase, but no additional signals are detected at the PCM melting. PCM addition positively contributes to the storage modulus both at room temperature and above Tg of the EP phase, and this effect is more evident for composites containing MC-PDA. As the capsule content increases, the mechanical properties of the host EP matrix also increase in terms of elastic modulus (up to +195%), tensile strength (up to +42%), Shore D hardness (up to +36%), and creep compliance (down to −54% at 60 min). These effects are more evident for composites containing MC-PDA due to the enhanced interfacial adhesion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 747 ◽  
pp. 387-390
Author(s):  
Sunanda Sain ◽  
Shubhalakshmi Sengupta ◽  
Dipa Ray ◽  
Abhirupa Kar ◽  
Aniruddha Mukhopadhyay

Recently, the polymeric composites from renewable resources have attracted great interest. The trend to develop novel eco-friendly green materials from various renewable resources leads to the full or partial replacement of synthetic materials towards a sustainable world also. With a high modulus of elasticity, low density, low production cost and energy consumption, easy processability, renewable nature and recyclability, cellulose nanoparticles have attracted considerable attention as reinforcing filler in polymer matrix composites for exploring new applications. Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)/cellulose nanocomposite films were prepared by in-situ polymerization with 10 weight% loading of cellulose nanofibers (CNF) and chemically modified cellulose nanofibers with maleic anhydride (M1CNF) and MMA (M2CNF) respectively to increase their interfacial compatibility with PMMA. The presence of the nanofiller increased the thermal stability of the nanocomposites, as measured by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and their glass transition temperature, measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), as well as their average molecular weight measured by viscometric method. Mechanical test results showed that surface treatment of cellulose nanofibers significantly improved the tensile properties of PMMA nanocomposites. Biodegradation study was performed with soil burial method to analyze the effect of cellulose nanofibers on biodegradation.


Polymers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gennaro Gentile ◽  
Mariacristina Cocca ◽  
Roberto Avolio ◽  
Maria Errico ◽  
Maurizio Avella

Poly(vinyl alcohol) foams, containing different amounts of microfibrillated cellulose, were prepared through an eco-friendly procedure based on high-speed mixing and freeze-drying. The effect of filler amount on cell shape and regularity was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the evolution of the microstructure was assessed through dynamic cryo-SEM. Fourier Transformed Infrared Analysis and Differential Scanning Calorimetry measurements revealed the presence of hydrogen bond interaction among cellulosic filler and the matrix. The modulus and compression deflection of neat PVA were significantly improved by increasing the amount of microfibrillated cellulose content with respect to foams realised with pulp cellulose fibers.


Small ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (14) ◽  
pp. 2466-2472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luqi Liu ◽  
Yun Gao ◽  
Qing Liu ◽  
Jun Kuang ◽  
Ding Zhou ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Rigotti ◽  
Luca Fambri ◽  
Alessandro Pegoretti

Abstract Composite filaments consisting of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and micro crystalline cellulose (MCC) were successfully used for additive manufacturing (AM) by fused filament fabrication (FFF). PLA and MCC bio-composites were obtained by direct mixing in a melt compounder; maleic anhydride (MAH) was also grafted onto PLA in reactive mixing stage to evaluate its effect on the final properties of the printed material. Filaments with various concentrations of MCC (up to a maximum content of 10 wt%) were produced with a single screw extruder and used to feed a commercial desktop FFF printer. Upon grafting of PLA with MAH, a more coherent interfacial morphology between PLA and MCC was detected by electron microscopy analysis. The thermal degradation of the PLA was unaffected by the presence of MCC and MAH. According to differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis results, micro-cellulose acted as nucleating agent for PLA. In fact, the crystallization peak shifted towards lowers temperature and a synergistic effect when MCC was added to PLA grafted with MAH was observed possibly due to the increase of the chain mobility. Micro cellulose led to an increase in the stiffness of the material in both filaments and 3D printed specimen, however, a different fracture behavior was observed due to the peculiar structure of printed samples.


Polymers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuan Wang ◽  
Yuan Jia ◽  
Zhen Liu ◽  
Jiaojiao Miao

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/lignin-containing cellulose nanofibrils (L-CNFs) composite films with different lignin contents were produced bythe solution casting method. The effect of the lignin content on the mechanical, thermal, and crystallinity properties, and PLA/LCNFs interfacial adhesion wereinvestigated by tensile tests, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The tensile strength and modulus of the PLA/9-LCNFs (9 wt % lignin LCNFs) composites are 37% and 61% higher than those of pure PLA, respectively. The glass transition temperature (Tg) decreases from 61.2 for pure PLA to 52.6 °C for the PLA/14-LCNFs (14 wt % lignin LCNFs) composite, and the composites have higher thermal stability below 380 °C than pure PLA. The DSC results indicate that the LCNFs, containing different lignin contents, act as a nucleating agent to increase the degree of crystallinity of PLA. The effect of the LCNFs lignin content on the PLA/LCNFs compatibility/adhesion was confirmed by the FTIR, SEM, and Tg results. Increasing the LCNFs lignin content increases the storage modulus of the PLA/LCNFs composites to a maximum for the PLA/9-LCNFs composite. This study shows that the lignin content has a considerable effect on the strength and flexibility of PLA/LCNFs composites.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengwei Yu ◽  
Zhenqing Wang ◽  
Hao Li ◽  
Jianxin Teng ◽  
Lidan Xu

Shape memory epoxy polymer (SMEP) composite specimens with different graphene oxide (GO) contents were manufactured to study the effects of GO mass fractions on epoxy polymer composites. While ensuring the shape memory effect of SMEP, the addition of GO also remarkably strengthened the mechanical performance of the polymers. Analyses of the epoxy polymer composites’ thermal, mechanical, and shape memory performance were conducted through carrying out dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and static tensile, three-point bending, impact, and shape memory tests. Moreover, the tensile fracture, bending fracture, and impact fracture interfaces of epoxy resin composites were examined with scanning electron microscopy. The final test results indicated that when the GO content was 0.8 wt %, SMEP composites had good shape memory performance and optimum thermal and mechanical performance.


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