New strategy for reinforcing polylactic acid composites: Towards the insight into the effect of biochar microspheres

Qingfa Zhang; Rongyan Wang; Weiwei Liu; Yingchun Yang; Lili Huang; Erguang Huo; Zhong Ma

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125487

New strategy for reinforcing polylactic acid composites: Towards the insight into the effect of biochar microspheres

Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Aug 1:245:125487. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125487. Epub 2023 Jun 21.

Authors

Qingfa Zhang¹, Rongyan Wang², Weiwei Liu², Yingchun Yang², Lili Huang², Erguang Huo³, Zhong Ma⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China; College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: zhangqingfa@ahau.edu.cn.
² School of Engineering, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China.
³ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Heat Fluid Flow Technology and Energy Application, School of Physical Science and Technology, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China.
⁴ School of Engineering, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China. Electronic address: mazhong@ahau.edu.cn.

PMID: 37353123
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125487

Abstract

Having even particle size and regular morphology of biochar microspheres (BM) provides the possibility for preparing polylactic acid (PLA) films. Hence, the novelty is proposing a strategy for reinforcing PLA by BM. It was found that BM exhibited regular morphology, higher thermal stability, even particle size, and better pore characteristics. Although adding BM decreased the toughness of PLA due to the poor compatibility between BM and PLA, the nucleation effect of BM facilitated the crystallization in the PLA system. The tensile strength and modulus of BM/PLA composite films increased first and then decreased with increasing BM content. The stress concentration formed by BM particle agglomeration was responsible for the tensile strength and modulus decreases of BM/PLA composite films under higher BM addition. 2% BM added and 3% added composite films exhibited the best tensile strength and modulus with 64.99 MPa and 1.59 GPa, which was mainly attributed to the proper proportion of BM to PLA and the uniform distribution of BM in PLA. The results of this study confirmed the positive reinforcing effect of BM in PLA and are expected to be available in the composite film field.

Keywords: Biochar microspheres; Polylactic acid composite films; Reinforcement.

MeSH terms

Microspheres
Polyesters* / chemistry
Tensile Strength

Substances

poly(lactide)
biochar
Polyesters