Preparation of cellulose nanocrystal (CNCs) reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) bionanocomposites filaments using biobased additives for 3D printing applications

This work presents the experimental steps taken towards the preparation of 3D printable bionanocomposites using polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymer containing 0.1, 0.5 and 1 wt% CNCs. Optimized amounts of bio-based additives were added to improve the processability and flexibility of the bionanocomposites. The 3D printable bionanocomposite filaments were drawn using a single screw extruder. The bionanocomposites filament was used to 3D print prototypes and test specimens for dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Characterization of the CNCs and bionanocomposites was performed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The nucleating effect of CNCs enhanced the crystallization behaviour of bionanocomposites by 5%, 15% and 11%, for the different CNCs loadings. The TGA analysis revealed a ∼20 °C improvement in the thermal stability of the bionanocomposites. Meanwhile, the tensile analysis showed a ≥48% increase in the tensile strength of the bionanocomposites filaments which was attributed to the reinforcing effects of CNC. The addition of CNCs significantly increased the melt viscosity, storage and loss modulus of PLA. In summary, the bionanocomposite filaments produced in this study exhibited excellent processibility and superior mechanical and thermal properties.