Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stella Mary's College of Engineering, Nagercoil, Tamilnadu 629202, India.
Natural Composites Research Group Lab, Department of Materials and Production Engineering, The Sirindhorn International Thai-German School of Engineering (TGGS), King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB), Bangkok 10800, Thailand.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 Mar;261(Pt 2):129771. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.129771. Epub 2024 Jan 28.
Plasticizers are active ingredients added to the polymer to increase its workability. Since synthetic plasticizer is not ecofriendly and toxic in nature, it is a real cause for concern. On this basis, our study focuses on plasticizer extraction from plant-based resources. In this research work, Thespesia populnea leaves are utilized for the isolation of biological macromolecules with a plasticizing effect for biofilm applications. This extraction process is done through solvent extraction, amination, slow pyrolysis, and surface catalysis process. The physico-chemical and microstructural characterization of novel plasticizer particles were studied for the first time. The lower crystallinity index and crystalline size obtained from X-ray diffraction is 50.08 % and 20.45 nm respectively. Energy dispersive spectroscopy, particle sizer analysis, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy are used to assess surface morphology of this plasticizer. The thermogram and differential thermal analysis curves give the information about degradation behavior of plasticizers and their thermal stability. The glass transition temperature of the extracted plasticizer is 60.56 °C. The plasticizing effect of the plasticizer is studied through film fabrication of polylactic acid which was blended with the extracted plasticizer. The mechanical property of biofilm was improved with the addition of plasticizer. The elongation break percentage (for 5 % plasticizer 46.12 %) was increased compared to others with moderate tensile strength. However, the tensile and elongation modulus decreases with the increase of plasticizer content. The crystallinity of the PLA film was improved after the plasticization. The thermal stability also increased with 3 % addition of the plasticizer. The isolated plasticizer was soluble in water and its molecular weight ≈380.
增塑剂是添加到聚合物中以提高其加工性能的活性成分。由于合成增塑剂在性质上不环保且有毒，因此这确实令人担忧。在此基础上，我们的研究重点是从植物资源中提取增塑剂。在这项研究工作中，我们利用 Thespesia populnea 叶从生物膜应用的角度来分离具有增塑作用的生物大分子。该提取过程通过溶剂萃取、胺化、缓慢热解和表面催化过程进行。首次研究了新型增塑剂颗粒的物理化学和微观结构特性。X 射线衍射得到的较低结晶度指数和结晶尺寸分别为 50.08%和 20.45nm。能量色散光谱、颗粒粒度分析、原子力显微镜和扫描电子显微镜用于评估该增塑剂的表面形貌。热重分析和差示热分析曲线提供了有关增塑剂降解行为及其热稳定性的信息。提取的增塑剂的玻璃化转变温度为 60.56°C。通过与提取的增塑剂共混制备聚乳酸薄膜来研究增塑剂的增塑效果。增塑剂的加入改善了生物膜的机械性能。与其他拉伸强度适中的相比，伸长断裂百分比（对于 5%的增塑剂为 46.12%）增加。然而，随着增塑剂含量的增加，拉伸和伸长模量降低。PLA 薄膜的结晶度在增塑后得到改善。添加 3%的增塑剂也提高了热稳定性。分离出的增塑剂可溶于水，分子量≈380。
