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Research & Reviews: Journal of Material Sciences | ISSN: 2321-6212 | Volulme 6
November 07-08, 2018 | Atlanta, USA
Materials Science and Engineering
15
th
International Conference and Exhibition on
Applied Crystallography
3
rd
International Conference on
&
Nanocellulose: The next generation of super materials
Michael L Curry
Tuskegee University, USA
C
ellulose is one of the most abundant natural resources on this earth and it is one of the most important structural components of
the primary cell wall of green plants, many forms of algae and the oomycetes. Cellulose history dates back to as early as the 1860s
when the first rayon fibers were commercialized by Courtaulds. Although cellulose has a long history in the commercial market, its
incompatibility with most polymer matrices, tedious extraction processing and large amounts of energy and time needed to extract
and convert to nano cellulose form has lessened its attractiveness for use in the design of bio-based materials. That being said, our
group research has focused on the extraction and modification of micro- and nano cellulose and its dispersion into biodegradable
and non-biodegradable polymer matrices to form bio-based plastic materials. This presentation will report on our investigation
of the influence of cellulose micro fibrils and nano fibrils, CMFs and CNFs, respectively, dispersion on the thermal, mechanical
and biodegradable properties of polymeric composites. In summary, our research has observed an increase in the thermal stability
of modified CMFs and CNFs when compared to their unmodified cellulose counterparts. Dynamic mechanical analysis(DMA),
thermal mechanical analysis (TMA), show marked improvements in the mechanical properties of the cellulose-based composites
when compared back to its neat counterpart.
mcurry@tuskegee.eduRes. Rev. J Mat. Sci. 2018, Volume 6
DOI: 10.4172/2321-6212-C8-036