Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Cellulose Nanofibers Reinforced Polyvinyl Alcohol Composite Films (original) (raw)

This research was aimed to use ball milling method to extract cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) from a bio-waste (i.e. wheat straw), and also to use the extracted cellulose nanofibers as reinforcing materials in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) thin film. To study the effect of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) on mechanical and thermal properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nano-composite films, thin film nano-composites were loaded with different loading of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) by weight percent (i.e. 1,3,5 and 7% loading). As a result of the research, we found that the tensile and thermal properties of PVA thin composite increased up to 5% loading of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). In contrast, the tensile as well as thermal properties of PVA nano -composite film degraded because of poor dispersion and agglomeration of CNFs