Characterizations and properties of ionic liquid regenerated cellulose/nanofillers/natural rubber nanocomposites films
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Abstract
Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer and has a variety of applications. The difficulty to dissolve the cellulose limits its applications. However, this matter can be overcome via the regeneration of cellulose as the polymer matrix by using 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride. The regenerated cellulose (RC) was incorporated with three different types of nanofillers (halloysites (HNT), vermiculite (VMT) and mica) with various loadings from 2wt% - 8wt%. The optimum nanofillers loadings was incorporated into the RC/deproteinized natural rubber (DNPR) blend. The elastic properties were improved by the incorporation of 10wt%, 20wt%, and 30wt% DPNR blend. The films were prepared using solution casting method. The translucent nanocomposites films were characterized using Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Morphology of the RC nanocomposites films was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was conducted to study the thermal behavior of the RC nanocomposites. The nanocomposites films were also analyzed for mechanical, water barrier and gas barrier properties. The FTIR spectra analysis showed that the incorporation of HNT, VMT and mica as nanofillers into the RC matrix did not affect the chemical structure of cellulose. The XRD results showed that HNT has good interaction with RC matrix compared to VMT and mica. The XRD result was supported by the SEM and TEM images that displayed good HNT distribution in the RC matrix. TGA results showed that the RC/HNT nanocomposites have better thermal stability as compared to pure RC. The incorporation of HNT into the RC matrix displayed better mechanical properties compared to VMT and mica at low HNT loadings (6wt %). Tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the RC/HNT6 increases up to 47.8% and 47.6% as compared to the pure RC. Thermal decomposition at T50 (temperature at 50% weight loss) of the RC/HNT6 occurred at 307 °C compared to 283 °C that of pure RC films. For RC/DPNR blend, the FTIR results showed that the incorporation of DPNR did not affect the chemical structure of the RC. It was proven that the incorporation of 20% DPNR into the RC matrix significantly enhanced the elongation at break of the RC/DPNR20 film up to 12.95%. The RC/DPNR20 also had a better thermal stability as compared to pure RC. For pure RC with DPNR20 (named as R in the nanocomposites formulation table) and silane modified HNT (HNT-S) blend, RC/R/HNT-S6 (with 6 wt % HNT-S loadings) displayed an enhancement in the tensile strength and elongation at break. Tensile strength and elongation at break of RC/R/HNT-S6 were increased up to 35% and 12%. The TEM images also showed a good HNT-S dispersion in the RC/R/HNT-S matrix. Thermal stability and water resistance properties of the RC/R/HNT-S nanocomposites films were improved with the incorporation of HNT-S. Overall, RC/R/HNT-S6 displayed better tensile strength, elongation at break, thermal stability and water resistance properties as compared to pure RC and RC/DPNR
Description
Thesis (PhD. (Polymer Engineering))
Keywords
Cellulose—Chemistry, Biopolymers—Biotechnology, Polymeric composites—Research