Biodegradable plastics such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) are gaining considerable interest as promising substitutes for conventional petroleum-based plastics due to ecological, health and environmental concerns. PLA possesses good biodegradability and biocompatibility, but is limited by its slow crystallization rate, low impact resistance and high costs. In this study, a low amount of natural poplar wood fiber (WF) was incorporated into PLA to improve mechanical and crystallization properties. According to mechanical test results, the optimal WF size and addition level was determined to be 80-100 mesh and 1 wt%, respectively. Isothermal crystallization kinetics revealed that the crystallization half-time was significantly reduced with the incorporation of WF, indicating the crystallization process was accelerated. Moreover, polarized optical microscope observation found that the spherulite density was increased and its size was decreased in the WF-PLA composites. These findings revealed that the WF of appropriate size, even at a low addition level, could act as both reinforcement material and efficient nucleating agent for PLA. Enhancing the performance of PLA via the incorporation of natural WF with approriate size provides a feasible and simple way to develop fully renewable and biodegradable PLA based composites with reduced cost.

Dual role of natural wood fiber as a bio-nucleating agent and reinforcement material for poly(lactic acid)

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