Research Article
Optimization of Water Absorption and Mechanical and Thermal
Behavior of Polylactic Acid/Chitosan/Titanium Carbide
S. Krishnamohan ,
1
Harishchander Anandaram,
2
V. Rathinam,
3
S. Kaliappan,
4
S. Sekar,
5
Pravin P Patil,
6
Asheesh Kumar ,
7
and Venkatesan Govindaraajan
8
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, E.G.S. Pillay Engineering College, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India
2
Centre for Computational Engineering and Networking (CEN), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
3
Automobile Engineering Department, VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad,
Telangana, India
4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Velammal Institute of Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
5
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Rajalakshmi Nagar, andalam, Chennai, India
6
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graphic Era Deemed to Be University, Bell Road, Clement Town, Dehradun,
Uttarakhand, India
7
Mechanical Engineering Department, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
8
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Haramaya Institute of Technology, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia
Correspondence should be addressed to Venkatesan Govindaraajan; venkatesanggg2011@gmail.com
Received 3 April 2022; Revised 14 July 2022; Accepted 25 July 2022; Published 8 October 2022
Academic Editor: Penchal Reddy
Copyright © 2022 S. Krishnamohan et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Nanocomposites are being studied for their mechanical, thermal, and water absorption capabilities. Polylactic acid/chitosan
blends have been studied extensively for their physical, mechanical, and morphological properties. Although the three materials
have been blended, no research has been done on the mechanical or morphological properties of PLA/CS/TiC NPs. PLA/CS
bonding is quite deprived, and thus researchers are trying to improve it by introducing TiC NPs; this would improve the
composites’ overall quality (mechanical and thermal characteristics as well as water absorption) by increasing the strength of the
bind between the two materials. e impacts of TiC NPs on PLA/CS properties are studied using FTIR and XRD and thermal
(TGA) and mechanical investigations. Titanium carbide nanoparticles in the polylactic acid/chitosan matrix increase the me-
chanical characteristics of the materials. As an outcome, the TiC content in the sample rises to 4 wt % even though adding TiC NPs
increased the mechanical properties by up to 2%. e findings of this study might be applied to the development of envi-
ronmentally friendly casings.
1. Introduction
Renewable bio-sourced components have become more
popular in recent years as a replacement for petroleum-
based goods [1]. To put it another way, a biomaterial is
anything that may be utilized for a long length of time to
cure, enhance, or replace an organ or tissue in the body
[2, 3]. A number of advantages of bio-composite materials
include the capacity for scientists and engineers to alter the
qualities of the material. Chitosan (CS) is a bio-based
polymer that has no genuine petrochemical equivalent since
its inherent qualities are so unique and important. us, the
fundamental properties of CS allow it to be used for its own
sake. Biopolymers such as chitosan, a commercially available
polymer, have been proven to be useful in the immobili-
zation of certain biomolecules [4]. Hydrogels, films, fibers,
and sponges can also be made with CS. However, the CS
material’s stability is often poorer [5] due to its hydrophilic
Hindawi
Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
Volume 2022, Article ID 5176584, 8 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/5176584