This study focuses on novel fabrication of bionanocomposites of poly lactic acid (PLA) and crystalline silk nanodisc (CSN) via melt extrusion process aiming its application in high strength biomedical research and also for high gas barrier food packaging. We report novel fabrication of crystalline silk nanodiscs using wild silk variety, Antheraea assama(Muga) with well-defined diameter of 49.4 ± 17.6 nm and thickness in the range of 4–5 nm. These fabricated CSN act as molecular chain integrator for PLA which lead to self-assembled fiber-like network formation. The structural, thermal, mechanical and barrier properties of melt extruded PLA/CSN bionanocomposites have been investigated. The results show that the CSNs show improved dispersions even at higher loading owing to their hydrophobic nature which leads to reductions in water vapor permeability by ~40%. Owing to the crystalline nature of CSN (~94%), the crystallinity of the nanocomposites has been improved which brings about the improvement in mechanical properties: tensile strength, elongation at break and Young’s modulus by ~10.5%, ~39% and ~7% respectively. These results prove that PLA/CSN bionanocomposites have potential applications in food packaging.

Crystalline silk nanodisc-based polylactide bionanocomposite

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.