New blend of renewable bioplastic based on starch and acetylated xylan with high resistance to oil and water vapor.

Renewable materials of biological origin exhibit attractive properties in relation to traditional plastics, as they can be partially or completely replaced, thereby reducing environmental impacts. Hemicelluloses are a group of polysaccharides that have expanded applications when acetylated. Acetylation can improve the mechanical strength and water vapor barrier properties of xylan-based bioplastics. By partially acetylating xylan in the present study, it was possible to use water as a solvent for the film-forming solution and starch as a second polysaccharide in the formation of bioplastics. Xylan was modified via partial chemical acetylation by varying the reaction time, solvent, and catalyst content. The bioplastics were formed by non-acetylated xylan and acetylated xylan with degrees of substitution (DS) of 0.45 and 0.9, respectively, with starch to form blends using glycerol as a plasticizer. Acetylation with DS 0.45 showed better results in increasing the hydrophilicity of the bioplastic. On the other hand, acetylation influenced the thermal stability of bioplastics, increasing the maximum temperature of the degradation rate from 302 °C to 329 °C and 315 °C, owing to changes in the crystallinity of the polymers. In addition to the modulus of elasticity 2.99 to 290.61 and 274.67 MPa for the non-acetylated bioplastic and the bioplastic with DS of 0.45 and 0.90, respectively. Thus, the films obtained presented suitable physicochemical properties for use in various industrial applications, such as active and intelligent packaging in the food sector.

Benzoxazine resin/carbon nanotube nanostructured composite's degradation kinetic.

In the last decades a new class of thermoset phenolic resin is emerging as a substitute of the traditional epoxy and phenolic resins in the aircraft industry. This new class is called polybenzoxazines and its associates the epoxy resin's mechanical properties and phenolic resin's thermal and flame retardant properties, resulting in a resin with superior properties when analyzed with the others singly. The introduction of carbon nanotubes in low concentration into polymeric matrices can produce nanostructured materials with good properties. Thus, in this study, nanostructured composites of benzoxazine resin were processed with different concentration of carbon nanotubes (0.1%, 0.5% and 1.0% w/w). In order to evaluate the thermostability of the benzoxazine resin and its nanostructured composites, it was performed a degradation kinetic study using the thermogravimetric technique. For that, the analysis have been done with the temperature ranging from 25 degrees C to 1000 degrees C at nitrogen atmosphere (100 mL x min(-1)) and in different heating rates (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 20 degrees C x min(-1)), in order to obtain the kinetic parameters (activation energy, E(a), and pre-exponential factor, A), based on Ozawa-Wall-Flynn model. The results showed excellent agreement between the thermogravimetric curves obtained and the Ozawa-Wall-Flynn method. The degradation kinetic study showed that the introduction of carbon nanotubes in the benzoxazine matrix does not change the thermostability of the resin, so that it does not have a significant influence in the shelf life of the material.