Solid state ball milling as a green strategy to improve the dispersion of cellulose nanowhiskers in starch-based thermoplastic matrices

摘要

This study reports the use of solid state ball milling (SSBM) for dispersing cellulose nanowhiskers (CNWs) in starch-based thermoplastics. Prior to conventional drying, interwhiskers agglomeration was minimized by coating the CNWs with pectin, a vegetable hydrocolloid polysaccharide. SSBM and melt-processing were employed to prepare the nanocomposites. A strong correlation between mechanical reinforcement and nanowhisker dispersion was proven by results of tensile tests, scanning electron microscopy and dynamical mechanical thermal analysis. The starch-pectin-CNW nanocomposites showed high dispersion of the nano-sized filler in the matrix, thus SSBM shows great potential when compared to sol-gel, casting/evaporation and other methods to disperse these promising nanoparticles.