Fabrication of a Polybutylene Succinate (PBS)/Polybutylene Adipate-Co-Terephthalate (PBAT)-Based Hybrid System Reinforced with Lignin and Zinc Nanoparticles for Potential Biomedical Applications.

Polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) was used in an effort to improve the properties of polybutylene succinate (PBS). The resultant blend consisting of PBS/PBAT (70/30) was reinforced with lignin at different loadings (5 to 15 wt.%) and zinc (ZnO) nanoparticles (1.5 wt.%). Hot melt extrusion and injection moulding were used to prepare the hybrid composites. The mechanical, thermal, physical, self-cleaning, and antimicrobial properties of the resultant hybrid composites were investigated. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results confirmed that ZnO was successfully prepared with average diameters of 80 nm. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed that there were interactions between the fillers and the blend. The tensile strength and elongation at the break of the resultant materials decreased with increasing the loadings, while the tensile modulus showed the opposite trend. The melting behaviour of the blend was practically unaffected by incorporating lignin and ZnO nanoparticles. In addition, the incorporation of fillers reduced the thermal stability of the materials. Furthermore, the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles introduced photocatalytic properties into the polymer blend, rendering it to be a functional self-cleaning material and enhancing its antimicrobial activities.

Effect of Clay Nanofillers on the Mechanical and Water Vapor Permeability Properties of Xylan-Alginate Films.

In this study, xylan-alginate-based films were reinforced with nanoclays (bentonite or halloysite) by the solvent casting technique. The effect of the nanoclay loadings (1-5 wt %) on various properties-mechanical, optical, thermal, solubility, water sorption, and water vapor permeability (WVP)-of the xylan-alginate films were examined for their application as food packaging materials. A 5 wt % loading of either bentonite or halloysite resulted in a 49% decrease of the WVP due to the impermeable nature of the silicate layers that make up both bentonite and halloysite. Thermal stability and solubility of the nanocomposite films were not significantly influenced by the presence of the nanoclays, whereas the optical properties were significantly improved when compared to neat xylan-alginate blend. In general, films reinforced with bentonite exhibited superior mechanical and optical properties when compared to both halloysite-based nanocomposite and neat films.

A comparative study on properties of micro and nanopapers produced from cellulose and cellulose nanofibres.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibres (CNFs) were successfully extracted from cellulose obtained from maize stalk residues. A variety of techniques, such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used for characterization and the experimental results showed that lignin and hemicellulose were removed to a greater extent by following the chemical methods. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) results confirmed that the diameters of CNCs and CNFs were ranging from 3 to 7 nm and 4 to 10nm, respectively, with their lengths in micro scale. CNCs suspension showed a flow of birefringence, however, the same was not observed in the case of suspension containing CNFs. XRD analysis confirmed that CNCs had high crystallinity index in comparison to cellulose and CNFs. Nanopapers were prepared from CNCs and CNFs by solvent evaporation method. Micropapers were also prepared from cellulose pulp by the same technique. Nanopapers made from CNFs showed less transparency as compared to nanopapers produced from CNCs whereas high transparency as compared to micropaper. Nanopapers produced from CNFs provided superior mechanical properties as compared to both micropaper and nanopapers produced from CNCs. Also, nanopapers produced from CNFs were thermally more stable as compared to nanopapers produced from CNCs but thermally less stable as compared to micropapers.

Review on flammability of biofibres and biocomposites.

The subject on flammability properties of natural fibre-reinforced biopolymer composites has not been broadly researched. This is not only evidenced by the minimal use of biopolymer composites and/or blends in different engineering areas where fire risk and hazard to both human and structures is of critical concern, but also the limited amount of published scientific work on the subject. Therefore, it is necessary to expand knowledge on the flammability properties of biopolymers and add value in widening the range of their application. This paper reviews the literature on the recent developments on flammability studies of bio-fibres, biopolymers and natural fibre-reinforced biocomposites. It also covers the different types of flame retardants (FRs) used and their mechanisms, and discusses the principles and methodology of various flammability testing techniques.