Insights into the enhanced mechanism of electron beam pretreatment on application performance for poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)/acetylated cellulose composite plastics

In this work, we developed a strategy to construct poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) composite plastics with excellent mechanical properties, superior thermal stability and enhanced biodegradability by combining acetylated celluloses (ECs) mediated by electron beam irradiation (EBI), which works as a toughening agent. With findings, the EBI pretreatment assisted with acetylation was applied to develop ECs materials with a higher degree of acetylation than acetylation alone. The pretreated ECs with increased hydrophobicity tended to decrease the chance of self-aggregation and enhanced the interfacial compatibility and adhesion with PBAT in PBAT/ECs composite plastics. Thus, PBAT/ECs composite plastics exhibited a smoother and more uniform surface structure during preparation and offered higher tensile strength, water vapor transmission rate, water absorption rate, thermal stability and degradation rate, and lower elongation at a break during application. On top of that, the PBAT/ECs composite plastics were characterized by a series of methods containing Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, indicating that these properties are mainly caused by the acetylation of hydroxyl groups from cellulose and carboxyl groups of PBAT. The work is expected to expand the application scope of PBAT and cellulose and provide an attainable solution for a biodegradable substitute for traditional plastics.