New processes and systems are constantly being innovated in order to meet the demand for higher performances polymeric materials, and furthermore to meet today's environmental and energy requirements. A single polymer or a combination of polymers may achieve a certain properties enhancement, however major improvements may be achieved via nano-particles reinforcements of polymers.
Nano Crystalline Cellulose (NCC) is an exciting new bio-material made from cellulose. It can be produced from cell walls of plants but also from huge waste streams such as that of paper meals and municipal sewage system sludge. These nano-crystals are 200-300 nm in length and 20 nm in width and nearly strong as Kevlar. NCC has intriguing properties and many potential applications. It may be present as liquid crystal solution in water and self-assemble to macro scale ordered films having a thickness at the nano-scale.
It was found that the addition of NCC to both synthetic and natural polymers result in composite materials with enhanced mechanical performances. In this work we aim to take advantage of the NCC properties and reinforce plastic sheets such as polyethylene (PE- non-degradable) and poly-lactic acid (PLA- degradable). Furthermore, integration of nano-particles such as SiO2 allows us to tune the material's optical properties.
NCC is incorporated with the polymers in two different manners:
A) Enhancement of plastic sheets by NCC coating, post plasma jet pre-treatment.
B) Surface modifications of NCC for tunable hydrophobicity, followed by compounding with PE or PLA.
Novel nano-reinforced composite materials, with improved mechanical properties compared to regular plastic sheets as well as controlled optical properties, were developed. These new materials will be applicable in fields such as greenhouses covers and food packaging, and will present greener solutions than currently used plastic sheets.
