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Polymer Chemistry 2018
Polymer Sciences
ISSN: 2471-9935
Page 66
March 26-28, 2018
Vienna, Austria
3
rd
Edition of International Conference and Exhibition on
Polymer Chemistry
T
he incorporation of lignocellulosic materials as a
reinforcing component in polymer composites has received
increased attention, primarily as industry attempts to lessen
the dependence on the unrenewable petroleum supplies and
to follow the concept of a circular economy. Nanofibrillated
cellulose (NFC), derived from cellulose, the most abundant
biopolymer, is one of the most promising materials. One
of the key issues that have been largely investigated is the
compatibility of the NFC with polymers. The main challenge is
the poor adhesion and dispersibility of the NFC in the synthetic
or biobased hydrophobic polymer matrices due to the dissimilar
nature of the components. In this work we applied Kraf lignin
as by product from pulp production for surface modification of
commercial NFC to increase the compatibility with polylactic
acid (PLA), a biodegradable and bioactive thermoplastic
aliphatic polyester. The lignin surface coverage and
morphology was determined by scanning electron microscope
and potentiometric titration. The hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity
effect of adsorbed and polymerized lignin on the 3D printed
composite mechanical properties was also studied. The
results indicated increased hydrophobic character of NFC upon
lignin surface adsorption and enzymatic polymerization that
led to an improved interfacial adhesion with PLA resulting in
increased composite mechanical properties (tensile modulus
and strength at yield).
Biography
Mojca Božič is an Assistant Professor of Materials in University of Mari-
bor at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Slovenia. She has more than
13 years of experience in the field of Material Chemistry (expertise in en-
zymatic synthesis and bio-catalysis, development of multifunctional biode-
gradablematerials etc.) as well Nanotechnology (expertise in nano-particles
synthesis), and surface characterization, modification and their application.
She is working on biochemical functionalization and cross-linking of poly-
saccharide with focus on chitosan and nanocellulose, and biobased-based
polymers.
mojca.bozic@um.si3D printing of biocomposite of polylactic acid and lignin
modified cellulose nanofibrils
Mojca Božič
1
, Silvo Hribernik
1
, Manja Kurečič
1,2
, Barbara Kaker
1
, Janez Slapnik
3
,
Silvester Bolka
3
and
Karin Stana Kleinschek
1,2
1
University of Maribor, Slovenia
2
Graz University of Technology, Austria
3
Faculty for Polymer Technology, Slovenia
Mojca Božič et al., Polym Sci, Volume 4
DOI: 10.4172/2471-9935-C1-008