Development of Novel Biodegradable Polysaccharide-Based Composites and Investigation of Their Structure and Properties

摘要

Biodegradable composites of polysaccharides (cellulose, starch, and ethylcellulose) with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) as well as composites of two polysaccharides (cellulose-chitin, cellulose-chitosan, starch-chitin, starch-chitosan) with LDPE were produced in a rotor disperser under conditions of shear deformation. Using various physicochemical (mechanical tests, FTIR-spectroscopy) and structural (SEM) methods, the properties and structure of obtained composites were studied. The investigation of the change in the fractional composition depending on the nature of third component has shown that the introduction of PEO leads to appearance of fraction with coarse particles, while the addition of second polysaccharides results in production of finely-dispersed powders. The comparison of the mechanical properties of binary and ternary composites has showed that the presence of third component leads to change in their characteristics. The investigation of sample biodegradability by three independent methods showed that the introduction of third component leads to a significant increase in the biodegradation as compared to the binary polysaccharide-LDPE composites studied earlier.