Rice husk/poly(propylene‐co‐ethylene) composites: Effect of different coupling agents on mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties

Abstract

Poly(propylene-co-ethylene) composites with rice husk were prepared in a corotating intermeshing twin-screw extruder using four different coupling agents. While modified maleic anhydrides such as maleated polypropylene (MAPP) and maleated polyethylene (MAPE) are commonly used as compatibilizers to improve interfacial adhesion between lignocellulosic filler and matrix, in this study, polypropylene grafted with acid comonomer (CAPP) and high-density polyethylene grafted with acid comonomer (CAPE) were also used. The morphologies and the thermal and mechanical properties of the composites were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning analysis, tensile and impact tests. The results indicate that the base resin of the compatibilizer is an important factor in determining the effectiveness of compatibilizers for composites. Composites with PP-based compatibilizers are more effective than PE-based compatibilizers due to the improved wetting of the former compatibilizer in the matrix polymer.

Estimation of the interfacial shears strength, orientation factor and mean equivalent intrinsic tensile strength in old newspaper fiber/polypropylene composites

“…Lignocellulosic fibers combined with hydrophobic thermoplastics as polypropylene (PP) needed to be modified because effective wetting of the fibers and strong interfacial adhesion 8 were required in order to achieve higher mechanical properties of the composite [23,[35][36][37].…”

Micromechanics of Mechanical, Thermomechanical, and Chemi-Thermomechanical Pulp from Orange Tree Pruning as Polypropylene Reinforcement: A Comparative Study

“…Lignocellulosic fibers combined with hydrophobic thermoplastics as PP needed to be modified because effective wetting of the fibers and strong interfacial adhesion in order to achieve higher mechanical properties of the composite (Colom et al 2003;de Carvalho et al 2012;Osman et al 2010). Different coupling agents exist, but in the research of PP reinforced with natural fibers (Li and Sain 2003), it is shown that the best results are obtained with the use of MAPP.…”

Caracterização de compósitos obtidos a partir de polímero biodegradável e casca de arroz utilizando duas técnicas de processamento

“…Estes materiais, no entanto, devem apresentar menores propriedades de impacto devido à rigidez da fibra [12]. A morfologia da casca de arroz foi estudada por vários autores [13][14][15][16][17]. As análises mostram que a casca apresenta uma estrutura fibrosa com uma combinação de sílica e material orgânico em uma composição não uniforme.…”