The effectiveness of m-TMI-grafted-PP as a coupling agent for wood polymer composites

The effectiveness of m-isopropenyl-α,α-dimethylbenzyl isocyanate-grafted-polypropylene (m-TMI-g-PP) as a coupling agent was evaluated for wood flour filled polypropylene composites. The performance was compared with the conventionally used maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) coupling agent...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of composite materials 2016-10, Vol.50 (25), p.3515-3524
Main Authors: Chauhan, Shakti, Aggarwal, Pankaj, Karmarkar, Ajay
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coupling agents
Fillers
Flour
Modulus of rupture in bending
Polymer matrix composites
Polypropylenes
Tensile strength
Wood
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The effectiveness of m-isopropenyl-α,α-dimethylbenzyl isocyanate-grafted-polypropylene (m-TMI-g-PP) as a coupling agent was evaluated for wood flour filled polypropylene composites. The performance was compared with the conventionally used maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) coupling agent in terms of mechanical properties. Rubberwood flour filled polypropylene composites were prepared at varying proportion (1 wt% to 9 wt% of wood fibers) of m-TMI-g-PP and MAPP coupling agents. Composites with m-TMI-g-PP coupling agent exhibited consistently superior strength properties as compared to MAPP at all concentrations of coupling agents inferring that m-TMI-g-PP is a better coupling agent. About 6–9 wt% coupling agent with respect to wood fiber was found to be the optimal level of coupling agent. The effect of filler content and fiber dimension on the properties of composites with m-TMI-g-PP coupling agent was also studied. Tensile strength, flexural strength and tensile modulus increased with increasing filler content in the composites with the coupling agent. At 50% filler loading, composites with coupling agent exhibited about 50%, 78% and 270% improvement in tensile strength, flexural strength and tensile modulus, respectively, over virgin polypropylene. Fiber aspect ratio was found to have a significant effect on the tensile strength of the composites.
ISSN:0021-9983
1530-793X
DOI:10.1177/0021998315622050