• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2023

Because of the global pollution caused by plastic disposal, demand for eco-friendly transformation in the packaging industry is increased. As part of that, the utilization of polylactic acid (PLA) as a food packaging material is increased. However, it is necessary to improve the crystallinity of PLA by adding nucleating agents or to improve the modulus by adding fillers because of the excessive brittleness of the PLA matrix. Thus, the cellulose nanofiber (CNF) was fabricated and dried to obtain a powder form and applied to the CNF/PLA nanocomposite. The effect of CNF on the morphological, thermal, rheological, and dynamic mechanical properties of the composite was analyzed. We can confirm the impregnated CNF particle in the PLA matrix through the field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed that the crystallinity of not annealed CNF/PLA nanocomposite was increased approximately 2 and 4 times in the 1st and 2nd cycle, respectively, with the shift to lower temperature of cold crystallization temperature (T_cc) in the 2nd cycle. Moreover, the crystallinity of annealed CNF/PLA nanocomposite increased by 13.4%, and shifted T_cc was confirmed.