Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Corn Stalk Microcrystalline Cellulose Reinforced PLA Composites

Abstract

The biodegradable composite films were prepared from corn stalk microcrystalline cellulose as filler and polylactic acid (PLA) as polymeric matrix. The crystallinity, the tensile properties and the thermal properties of the composites were tested. The results show that the tensile properties and thermal properties were improved with the addition of corn stalk microcrystalline cellulose. When corn stalk microcrystalline cellulose account for 10% of the PLA quality, the initial decomposition temperature was raised by 34.38, tensile strength increased by 58.3% and elongation at break increased by 31.1% compared to those of pure PLA.