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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Kim, et al. at University of Waterloo have investigated highly filled thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) composite systems using a polysaccharide, \u03b1-1,3-glucan, as a renewable and sustainable filler material in their research work entitled as \u201cEngineered polysaccharide alpha-1,3-glucan in highly filled thermoplastic polyurethane systems\u201d, which improved the modulus and strength of TPU.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The \u03b1-1,3-glucan particles were gold-coated by\u00a0Vac Coat magnetron sputter coater<\/strong>\u00a0in order to become observable with scanning electron microscope.<\/p>\n