2.2. Preparation of PLA and PLA/MCC composite
A 10 wt% solution of PLA pellets in chloroform was prepared
by stirring the solution inside the water bath at 60 ◦C
for 2 h until the pellets were fully dissolved (Maria, Garcia,
& Lagaron, 2010). The PLA solution was immediately cast
on the clean glass plates and left for the solvent to evaporate
at ambient temperature for 48 h. The thickness of the
cast solution was approximately 100 m and noted as pure
PLA.
To prepare the PLA/MCC composites, 10 wt% solution of PLA was
mixed with different amounts of MCC (1, 3 and 5 wt%) and the
mixture was kept at 60 ◦C with strong agitation until the PLA pellets
were fully dissolved. The suspension was then sonicated for
5 min and was immediately cast on a clean glass plate to generate
composite thickness of
∼100 m after removal of the solvent.
The composites were designated as PLA/MCC1, PLA/MCC3 and
PLA/MCC5.