Effect of chitosan and catechin addition on the structural, thermal, mechanical and disintegration properties of plasticized electrospun PLA-PHB biocomposites

In this paper the processing and properties of flexible electrospun biocomposites based on poly(lactic acid) (PLA) blended with 25 wt% of poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), plasticized with 15 wt% of acetyl(tributyl citrate) (ATBC) and further loaded with 1 wt% and 5 wt% of chitosan (Ch) or catechin (Cat) microparticles are reported. Both fillers present a high content of hydroxyl groups on their surfaces. The morphological, structural, thermal and mechanical performance of electrospun biocomposites was investigated. The lowest amounts of Ch or Cat added (1 wt%) produced better interactions among PLA, PHB and plasticizer. Chitosan produced some bead defects in the fibers, which leads to a reduction of the mechanical performance on biocomposites. Catechin antioxidant effect improved the thermal stability of biocomposites and produced beads-free fibers with better mechanical performance. All biocomposites were disintegrated in composting conditions showing their possible applications as biodegradable films. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Authors thank Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MAT2013-48059-C2-1-R and MAT2014-55778-REDT) and Regional Government of Madrid (52013/MIT-2862). M. P. Arrieta and L. Peponi are recipients of a "Juan de la Cierva" contract (FJCI-2014-20630) and "Ramon y Cajal" contract (RYC-2014-15595) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, respectively.Arrieta, MP.; López-Martínez, J.; López, D.; Kenny, JM.; Peponi. L. (2016). Effect of chitosan and catechin addition on the structural, thermal, mechanical and disintegration properties of plasticized electrospun PLA-PHB biocomposites. Polymer Degradation and Stability. 132:145-156. doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2016.02.027S14515613