Exploitation of Polymer Bionanocomposites

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Processing and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2021) | Viewed by 4213

Special Issue Editor

LSRE - Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 01006 Leioa, Spain
Interests: polymers; bio-based polymers; polyurethanes; nanocellulose; chitin; polymer composites; polymer nanocomposites; biomimetic materials
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymer bionanocomposites have become a prominent area of current research and development, as they present unique structure, functionality, conductivity, processability, responsivity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Therefore, polymer bionanocomposites have applications in multiple areas such as biomedicine, pharmaceutics, electronics, packaging, etc.

The main advantage of polymer nanocomposites (defined as a mixture of two or more materials where the matrix is a polymer and the dispersed phase (filler or reinforcement) has at least one dimension at the nanoscale), compared with conventional composites is the high surface/volume ratio of nanoreinforcements, resulting in higher interaction of polymer matrices with nanoreinforcements. Thereby, functional materials with desired properties (higher mechanical strength, toughness and stiffness, electrical and thermal conductivity, superior flame retardancy, and higher barrier to moisture and gases) could be prepared based on polymer nanocomposites, for specific applications. Furthermore, over the last few decades, the possibility of employing nanoreinforcements from renewable resources have offered new opportunities for polymer bionanocomposites, giving rise to the bio-based materials sector. However, the full potential of properties enhancement associated with polymer bionanocomposites is still under research, the proper dispersion of nanoreinforcements in the polymer matrix being the key challenge.

This Special Issue seeks to present original articles, review articles, and state-of-the-art research papers that focus on:

  • Research, development, and characterization of polymeric bionanocomposites with high contents of carbon from renewable resources.
  • Structure-property relationships of nanoreinforced polymer bionanocomposites.
  • Proper dispersion of bio-based nanoreinforcements in polymeric matrices.
  • Progress and applications of polymer bionanocomposites in biomedicine, pharmaceutics, electronics, packaging, etc.

Dr. Ainara Saralegi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Polymers
  • Bionanocomposites
  • Bio-based nanoreinforcements
  • Dispersion
  • Renewable resources
  • Structure-property relationships
  • Advanced applications

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 5809 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Unbleached and Bleached Nanocellulose on the Thermal and Flammability of Polypropylene-Reinforced Kenaf Core Hybrid Polymer Bionanocomposites
by Fatimah Athiyah Sabaruddin, M.T. Paridah, S. M. Sapuan, R. A. Ilyas, Seng Hua Lee, Khalina Abdan, Norkhairunnisa Mazlan, Adlin Sabrina Muhammad Roseley and H.P.S. Abdul Khalil
Polymers 2021, 13(1), 116; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13010116 - 30 Dec 2020
Cited by 74 | Viewed by 3783
Abstract
The thermal, thermo-mechanical and flammability properties of kenaf core hybrid polymer nanocomposites reinforced with unbleached and bleached nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) were studied. The studied chemical composition found that unbleached NCC (NCC-UB) had 90% more lignin content compared to bleached NCC (NCC-B). Nanocelluloses were [...] Read more.
The thermal, thermo-mechanical and flammability properties of kenaf core hybrid polymer nanocomposites reinforced with unbleached and bleached nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) were studied. The studied chemical composition found that unbleached NCC (NCC-UB) had 90% more lignin content compared to bleached NCC (NCC-B). Nanocelluloses were incorporated within polypropylene (PP) as the matrix, together with kenaf core as a main reinforcement and maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) as a coupling agent via a melt mixing compounding process. The result showed that the thermal stability of the nanocomposites was generally affected by the presence of lignin in NCC-UB and sulfate group on the surface of NCC-B. The residual lignin in NCC-UB appeared to overcome the poor thermal stability of the composites that was caused by sulfation during the hydrolysis process. The lignin helped to promote the late degradation of the nanocomposites, with the melting temperature occurring at a relatively higher temperature of 219.1 °C for PP/NCC-UB, compared to 185.9 °C for PP/NCC-B. Between the two types of nanocomposites, PP/NCC-B had notably lower thermo-mechanical properties, which can be attributed to the poor bonding and dispersion properties of the NCC-B in the nanocomposites blend. The PP/NCC-UB showed better thermal properties due to the effect of residual lignin, which acted as a compatibilizer between NCC-UB and polymer matrix, thus improved the bonding properties. The residual lignin in PP/NCC-UB helped to promote char formation and slowed down the burning process, thus increasing the flame resistance of the nanocomposites. Overall, the residual lignin on the surface of NCC-UB appeared to aid better stability on the thermal and flammability properties of the nanocomposites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploitation of Polymer Bionanocomposites)
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