Bacterial Cellulose Nanofiber Reinforced Poly (lactic acid) Nanocomposite

The objective of the present work is to investigate the impact of the modified BC nanofibers orientation in poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/ polyethylene glycol (PEG) blends (porous and nonporous) on the mechanical properties and thermal properties. A new class of PLA/PEG biocomposites containing BC nanofibers was successfully fabricated using solution casting technique followed by silane coupling agent of BC grafting into PLA/PEG chains. The mechanical properties were investigated with and without developing the porosity for PLA/PEG. The results revealed that incorporating BC nanofibers into PLA/PEG enhanced mechanical properties, but this improvement set up at BC nanofiber loading (5 wt%). The tensile strength increased from 13 MPa for PLA/PEG to 18 MPa after the addition of 5 wt% BC. The young’s modulus was significantly increased upon increased BC content. Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) results revealed that the BC 5% nanofiber improved glass transition temperature (Tg) to 57°C, melting temperature (Tm) to 171°C, and crystallinity (χ%) to 43% of PLA/PEG reinforced-BC-5%. These results are of significant interest to further expand the use of PLA in biomedical applications.