Pickering emulsion process assisted construction of regenerated chitin reinforced poly (lactic acid) blends.

Regenerated chitin (RCh)/poly (lactic acid) (PLA) blends with enhanced properties were successfully prepared via the Pickering emulsion approach. An oil-in-water Pickering emulsion of PLA/dichloromethane (DCM) stabilized with RCh via an ultrasonic homogenizer was formed. A uniformly dispersed blends were obtained upon slow volatilization of DCM. The effects of RCh on physical/morphological, thermal, mechanical and rheology properties of the blends were studied. The introduction of RCh in PLA improved its crystallinity from 23.4% to over 38.0%. The blends displayed an improvement in storage modulus of 393% at 70 °C for 2 wt%RCh as compared with neat PLA. The RCh/PLA blends showed an enhancement in both tensile strength and elongation at break of 18% and 31% respectively at the loading of 1.5 wt%-RCh. Moreover, the complex viscosity of the blends was increased compared to neat PLA, and all the blends exhibited shear-thinning behaviour without any plateau region at low angular frequencies (ω < 10 rad/s). These results suggest that the low weight content RCh introduced to PLA matrix via this facile Pickering emulsion approach not only promotes nucleation in RCh/PLA blends but also acts as a promising reinforcing agent for PLA.