Fast-growing poplar wood, Populus ussuriensis Kom, was used to prepare novel wood-polymer composite by the in-situ polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and styrene (St). SEM observation and FTIR analysis indicated that the resulted polymer well filled up wood cell lumen and physically reinforce wood matrix. The test results also proved that the mechanical properties of wood including modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, compression strength and hardness of were improved by 68.28%, 110.27%, 62.43%, 357% over those of Untreated Wood, respectively. Such wood-based composite could be potentially used as reinforced material in construction fields.
Fast-growing plant wood, Micheliamacclurel wood, was modified by formation of wood-polymer composite to improve its decay resistance. Two functional monomers, glycidyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, added with a few Azo-bis-isobutryonitrile as initiator, and maleic anhydride as catalyst, were first impregnated into wood cell lumen under a vacuum-pressure condition, and then in-situ polymerized into copolymers through a catalyst-thermal treatment. The decay resistances of untreated wood and wood-polymer composites were assessed by weight loss and compared by SEM observations. SEM and FTIR analysis indicated that the in-situ polymerized copolymers fully filled up wood cell lumen and also grafted onto wood cell walls, resulting in the blockage of passages for microorganisms and moisture to wood cell walls. Thus, the decay resistance of the wood-polymer composite against brown rot fungus and white rot fungus in terms of weight loss achieved 1.04%~1.33%, improved 95.10%~95.35% than those of untreated Micheliamacclurel wood; and also higher than that of boron-treated wood. The SEM observations presented the remarkable improvement of decay resistance of wood after such treatment, which effectively protected wood from degradation by fungi.
Wood-polymer composite was prepared by a novel combined two-step method with maleic anhydride (MAN) for the first treatment, and mixed monomers of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)/ methyl methacrylate (MMA) (1:5 of molar ratio) for the second treatment. SEM and FTIR technologies were employed to characterize the interfacial compatibility between resultant polymer and wood matrix, and the dimensional stability of the resultant wood-polymer composite was also tested. The results indicated that polymers fully filled up wood cell lumina and chemically bonded to wood cell wall, resulting in the improvement of interfacial compatibility between polymer and wood matrix without obvious lacunae. The dimensional stability of poplar wood was significantly improved after the combined two-step treatment, and became more stable than that of PEG-1000 treated Poplar Wood.
A novel composite, wood-polymer composite, was fabricated by polymerization of functional monomers within wood porous structure. The wood was a fast-growing plant wood, Micheliamacclurel wood, which was rarely reported in previous studies, and two functional monomers, glycidyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, were novelly employed. The monomers, added with a few Azo-bis-isobutryonitrile as initiator, and maleic anhydride as catalyst, were first impregnated into wood pores under vacuum/pressure conditions, and then in-situ polymerized into polymers through a catalyst-thermal treatment. After the processes, wood-polymer composite was resulted. SEM and FTIR analysis for the composite indicated that the monomers polymerized into solid polymer, which fully filled up wood pores, and the resulted polymer grafted onto wood matrix, resulting in good interface combination between polymer and wood matrix. Such composite with satisfactory interface can be potentially applied as structural material in construction field.
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