TITLE:
Difficulties in the Use of Ground Bacterial Cellulose (BC) as Reinforcement of Polylactid Acid (PLA) Using Melt-Mixing and Extrusion Technologies
AUTHORS:
Katrin Ganß, Axel Nechwatal, Katrin Frankenfeld, Kerstin Schlufter
KEYWORDS:
Polymer-Matrix Composite; Extrusion; Bacterial Cellulose
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Composite Materials,
Vol.2 No.3,
July
24,
2012
ABSTRACT: Bacterial cellulose (BC) was ground to make the material suitable for compounding with polylactid acid (PLA). The content of BC in PLA was changed between 5 and 20 wt%. By increasing the BC content of the composite DSC measurements showed an increase of crystallinity (χ c ). Annealing at 90?C resulted in a further increase of χ c . Analysis of the dynamic mechanical behavior showed a sharp decline of the storage module (G’) above the glass transition temperature (T g ) while such a sharp decline did not occur for annealed samples. This indicates that the stiffness of PLA even above T g can be improved by BC and annealing.