Difficulties in the Use of Ground Bacterial Cellulose (BC) as Reinforcement of Polylactid Acid (PLA) Using Melt-Mixing and Extrusion Technologies

Katrin Ganß, Axel Nechwatal, Katrin Frankenfeld, Kerstin Schlufter

Department Biotechnology, fzmb GmbH Forschungszentrum für Medizintechnik und Biotechnologie, Bad Langensalza, Germany.
Department of Textile and Material Research, Thueringisches Institut fuer Textil und Kunststoff-Forschung e.V., Rudolstadt, Germany.
Thueringer Landesamt fuer Lebensmittelsicherheit und Verbraucherschutz (TLLV), Bad Langensalza, Germany.

DOI: 10.4236/ojcm.2012.23011                

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.

Keywords

Polymer-Matrix Composite; Extrusion; Bacterial Cellulose

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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