Open Access
ARTICLE
3D-Printed PLA Filaments Reinforced with Nanofibrillated Cellulose
Matea Perić1,*, Robert Putz1, Christian Paulik2
1 Wood K Plus-Competence Center for Wood Composites & Wood Chemistry, Kompetenzzentrum Holz GmbH, Linz, A-4040, Austria
2 Institute for Chemical Technology of Organic Materials, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, 4040, Austria
* Corresponding Author: Matea Perić. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: The 10th Conference on Green Chemistry and Nanotechnologies in Polymeric Materials (GCNPM 2019))
Journal of Renewable Materials 2020, 8(7), 759-772. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.09284
Received 29 November 2019; Accepted 16 April 2020; Issue published 01 June 2020
Abstract
In the current study poly(lactic acid) PLA composites with a 3 wt% and
5 wt% of nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) were produced by 3D-printing method.
An enzymatic pretreatment coupled with mechanical fibrillation in a twin screw
extruder was used to produce high consistency NFC. Scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) equipped with Fibermetric software, FASEP fiber length distribution analysis, Furrier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis
(TGA), tensile tests, impact tests and differential scanning calorimetry were used
to characterize NFC and PLA/NFC composites. The results of the fiber length
and width measurements together with the results of the SEM analysis showed that
enzymatic hydrolysis coupled with a twin screw extrusion could effectively reduce
the diameter and length of cellulose fibers. The produced NFC consisted of microand nanosized fibers entangled in a characteristic 3D-network. Based on the FT-IR
analysis, no new bonds were formed during the enzymatic hydrolysis or fibrillation
process. The TGA analysis confirmed that produced NFC can be used in hightemperature extrusion processing without NFC degradation. During the PLA/
NFC composites preparation the NFC agglomerates were formed, which negatively
influenced PLA/NFC composites impact properties. The slightly improved tensile
strength and elastic modulus were reported for all composites when compared to
the neat PLA. The elongation at break was not affected by the NFC addition. No
significant differences in thermal stability were detectable among composites nor
in comparation with the neat PLA. However, the crystallinity degree of the composite containing 5 wt% NFC was increased in respect to the neat PLA.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Perić, M., Putz, R., Paulik, C. (2020). 3D-Printed PLA Filaments Reinforced with Nanofibrillated Cellulose.
Journal of Renewable Materials, 8(7), 759–772. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.09284
Citations