Effect of Different Filler Concentration on Polylactic Acid (PLA) for Biomedical Application

Plastic Engineering

The present study explores the possibilities of using locally available inexpensive waste prawn shell derived chitosan reinforced and bioabsorbable polylactic acid (PLA) biocomposites to develop new materials with excellent mechanical and thermal properties for implantable application such as in bone implant. Chitosan at different concentration (1-10% of PLA) reinforced PLA were fabricated by twin screw extruder. The effect of variation of chitosan concentration on the resulting biocomposite's behavior was investigated. Mechanical, surface morphology and thermal were assessed with different characterization technique such as FT-IR, SEM and DSC. The FTIR spectra showed the characteristic peaks for chitosan and PLA in the composites. SEM images showed an excellent dispersion of chitosan in biocomposites. Differential scanning calorimetric analysis (DSC) showed that the Glass transition temperature (Tg), Melting temperature (Tm), and Crystalline Temperature (Tc) of chitosan PLA composite. The mechanical properties of the biocomposite with the increase of chitosan content indicated good dispersion of chitosan into PLA and strong interfacial actions between the polymer and chitosan. The improvement of mechanical properties and the results of anti- microbial and cytotoxicity of the composites also evaluated and revealed the composite would be a suitable candidate for implant application in biomedical sector.

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