Högskolan i Skövde

In this work, different loads (3, 5 and 7 wt%) of pine cone cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were added to films ofpoly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PHB/PCL) blends with a composition of 75 wt% PHB and 25 wt% PCL (PHB75/PCL25). The films were obtained after solvent casting followed by melt compounding in anextruder and finally subjected to a thermocompression process. The influence of different CNCs loadings on themechanical, thermal, optical, wettability and disintegration in controlled compost properties of the PHB75/PCL25blend was discussed. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) revealed the best dispersion of CNCson the polymeric matrix was at a load of 3 wt%. Over this loading, CNCs aggregates were formed enhancing thefilms fragilization due to stress concentration phenomena. However, the addition of CNCs improved the opticalproperties of the PHB75/PCL25films by increasing their transparency and accelerated the film disintegration incontrolled soil conditions. In general, the blend with 3 wt% CNCs offers the best balanced properties in terms ofmechanical, thermal, optical and wettability