            !" # 1 MECHANICAL, THERMAL, AND MOISTURE ABSORPTION PROPERTIES OF NANOCLAY REINFORCED NANOCELLULOSE BIOCOMPOSITES Mohamed H. GABR 12* , Nguyen T. Phong 1 , Kazuya OKUBO 1 , Toru FUJII 1                 !"""# Keywords: Nano"clay, Microfibrillated cellulose, Mechanical properties, thermal properties. Abstract:     $    %&  ’ " (       )*+,    )-+, ’  .  )., ’ " /  0   1 2 /      ’  " /     ’      )*," 3 ’     2        4  ’     5"6 ’7 $" 8’ ’                  4 " /   ’   ’  $   " 1. Introduction In recent years, organic/inorganic composites with reinforcement on the nanometer"scale have attracted great interest from researchers. One of the most promising composite systems is hybrids based on organic polymers and inorganic clay minerals consisting of a layered structure. Compared to their micro" and macro counterparts and the pristine polymer matrix, polymer/clay nanocomposites (PCN) exhibit dramatically improved mechanical, thermal and barrier properties. Cellulose is probably the most abundant and renewable biopolymer. Each year ~100 billion metric tons of cellulose is produced. Recently, a large amount of work has proven that natural fibers, also referred to as cellulosic fibers, can be an alternative to inorganic/mineral based reinforcing fibers in commercial composite materials. Natural fibers have many advantages, such as renewability, abundance, low density, biodegradability, and last but not least, low cost. Despite this, the applications of these lignocellulosic fillers are still limited in industrial practice, in part due to their poor mechanical properties in general— although they have good specific mechanical properties given their low density [1]. Recent and ongoing research on polymer/inorganic nanocomposites has shown dramatic enhancements in stiffness, strength and thermal properties over those of polymers, without compromising on density, toughness or processibility [2].