Nowadays, production of biodegradable polymers that do not contribute to microplastic burdens is a worldwide environmental challenge, which is going to be overcome through polymer engineering.

Kim, et al. at University of Waterloo have investigated highly filled thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) composite systems using a polysaccharide, α-1,3-glucan, as a renewable and sustainable filler material in their research work entitled as “Engineered polysaccharide alpha-1,3-glucan in highly filled thermoplastic polyurethane systems”, which improved the modulus and strength of TPU.

The α-1,3-glucan particles were gold-coated by?Vac Coat magnetron sputter coater?in order to become observable with scanning electron microscope.

Vac Coat DSR1 is a low-cost?SEM coater?for deposition of a?thin film?of non-oxidizing materials, like gold and silver. Vac Coat also offers high-vacuum sputter coater, DST1, and low and high-vacuum carbon coaters, DCR and DCT, for SEM,?FESEM?and TEM imaging.