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Improvement in impact‐, tensile‐, and dynamic properties of injection molded wheat‐pulp‐polypropylene composites through fiber finishing
Author(s) -
Sykacek Eva,
Grzeskowiak Bogdan,
Edlhofer Gerwig,
Mundigler Norbert
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.34308
Subject(s) - ultimate tensile strength , materials science , composite material , polypropylene , pulp (tooth) , izod impact strength test , young's modulus , cellulose fiber , dynamic mechanical analysis , modulus , fiber , polymer , medicine , pathology
This study was focused on the improvement of mechanical properties of injection molded wheat‐pulp polypropylene (PP) composites through fiber surface modifications. Ten different sizing and finishing agents, including fats, starch derivatives, and polysiloxanes were used as surfactants for the cellulosic pulp. As a result of polydimethylsiloxane treatment (0.3 wt %), impact strength was increased by 85%, tensile strength by 23%, and an augmentation in tensile modulus of 12% was also achieved. In consideration of the dynamic mechanical properties, the stronger effects of the modifiers on the storage‐ modulus were observed with increasing temperature. A new approach quantifying the extent of the dispersion of the pulp fibers using image analysis through transmission light micrographs was tested. The enhancement of tensile strength, tensile modulus, and impact strength could be attributed to the improved dispersion of the cellulosic fibers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011