Mechanical and barrier properties of nanocrystalline cellulose reinforced chitosan based nanocomposite films.

Avik Khan (1) , Ruhul A Khan (1) , Stephane Salmieri (1) , Canh Le Tien (1) , Bernard Riedl (2) , Jean Bouchard (3) , Gregory Chauve (3) , Victor Tan (4) , Musa R Kamal (4) , Monique Lacroix (1)

1 INRS-IAF - Institut Armand Frappier
2 Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Faculté de foresterie, géographie et géomatique
3 FPInnovations
4 Department of Chemical Engineering [Montréal]

Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) reinforced chitosan-based biodegradable films were prepared by solution casting. The NCC content in the films was varied from 1 to 10% (dry wt. basis). It was found that the tensile strength (TS) of the nanocomposite films with 5% (w/w) NCC content was optimum with an improvement of 26% compared to the control chitosan films. Incorporation of NCC also significantly improved barrier properties. Water vapor permeability (WVP) of the chitosan/NCC films was decreased by 27% for the optimum 5% (w/w) NCC content. Swelling studies revealed a decrease in water uptake of the NCC-reinforced chitosan films. Analyses of thermal properties showed no significant effect of NCC whereas X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the appearance of crystalline peaks in the nanocomposite films. Surface morphology of the films was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and it was found that NCC was dispersed homogenously into chitosan matrix.

Mots clés: Chitosan; Nanocrystalline cellulose; Biodegradable; Nanocomposite films; Mechanical properties; Barrier properties

Domaines: Maladies émergentes

Avik Khan, Ruhul A Khan, Stephane Salmieri, Canh Le Tien, Bernard Riedl, et al.. Mechanical and barrier properties of nanocrystalline cellulose reinforced chitosan based nanocomposite films.. Carbohydrate Polymers, 2012, 90 (4), pp.1601-8. ⟨10.1016/j.carbpol.2012.07.037⟩. ⟨pasteur-00818528⟩