3.3. Thermal properties
To investigate the effects of CNF on the thermal characteristics of the PLA-based composites, a DSC study was
performed on neat PLA and PLA-CNF composite films.Thermal parameters, namely glass transition temperature
(Tg), cold crystallization temperature (Tc) and melting temperature (Tm), were measured. The nanocomposite
films showed very similar pattern of thermal behavior to that of neat PLA films. The three specimens showed welldefined
Tg, Tc and Tm. The Tg of the three samples is almost the same, between 57 and 59 C. Table 2 and Fig. 5 show the Tg slightly increased by the incorporation of nanofibers to PLA. The enthalpy of fusion decreased from 34.23 J/g for neat PLA film to 33.86, 29.55 and 29.88 J/g for PLA film containing 1, 3 and 5 wt% nanofibers, respectively, which probably resulted from the lower content of PLA matrix. The calculated crystallinity percent (Xc) of the specimens was slightly reduced by the composition of PLA