Ionic liquids have been shown to be effective solvents for creating interesting nano-modified biopolymer composites.  Physical characterizations for several examples of biopolymer composite materials processed with ionic liquid solvents are discussed.  Composite materials may consist of a single biopolymer or a mixture of biopolymers with additional components such as carbon nanotubes integrated into the material matrix.  The material micro-scale is probed by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to evaluate the incorporation of nanomaterials.  FT-IR and Raman microscopy is employed to access material homogeneity (or heterogeneity).  Micro-scale analysis' are framed within the context of macroscopic property observations (i.e., material strength as probed by tensile and ballistics testing) so as to inform the ongoing development of processing methods and techniques.

Micro-scale characterization of nano-modified biopolymer composites

239th National Meeting (2010)

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