POLY(3-HYDROXYBUTYRATE) (P3HB) / THERMOPLASTIC POLYURETHANE (TPU) NANOCOMPOSITES CONTAINING GRAPHENE

Biodegradable, biocompatible Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a bacterial piezoactivepolymer from the class of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) It has been widely used in manyapplication such as biomedical tissue engineering, drug delivery and food packing. PHB islow thermal stability of the melt, high fragility with high crystallinity and hydrophobicity (1)Polyurethanes consist of rigid and soft flexible chains alternately in the polymer back bone.Furthermore thermoplastic polyurethane (TPUs) elastomers have included high strength,highelongation at break and good abrasion resistance and these properties provide them to beprocessed by using extrusion and injection molding techniques [2]. Graphene-based materialsexhibit good biocompatibility, excellent electrical conductivity, supreme thermalconductivity and high mechanical strength properties with high surface area. Furthermorestudies established about the graphene-based materials show that they have excellentantibacterial and angiogenic properties (3) In this study, Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/thermoplastic polyurethane (P3HB/TPU) composite materials containinggraphane nanoparticles prepared in a micro-compounder. The nanocomposites characterizedby using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) for chemical anaysis andthermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) for thermal properties.