Mechanical and thermal properties of bacterial-cellulose-fibre-reinforced Mater-Bi^® bionanocomposite

• Hamonangan Nainggolan,
• Saharman Gea,
• Emiliano Bilotti,
• Ton Peijs and
• Sabar D. Hutagalung

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 325–329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.37

• starch of Mater-Bi® have been investigated. FBC produced by cultivating Acetobacter xylinum for 21 days in glucose-based medium were purified by sodium hydroxide 2.5 wt % and sodium hypochlorite 2.5 wt % overnight, consecutively. To obtain water-free BC nanofibres, the pellicles were freeze dried at a

• pressure of 130 mbar at a cooling rate of 10 °C min−1. Both Mater-Bi and FBC were blended by using a mini twin-screw extruder at 160 °C for 10 min at a rotor speed of 50 rpm. Tensile tests were performed according to ASTM D638 to measure the Young’s modulus, tensile strength and elongation at break. A

• FBC into Mater-Bi. FBC is easily incorporated in Mater-Bi matrix and produces homogeneous Mater-Bi/FBC composite. The crystallinity of the Mater-Bi/FBC composites decrease in relation to the increase in the volume fraction of FBC. Keywords: bacterial cellulose; bio-nanocomposites; Mater-Bi