Property of enhancement of polypropylene wood flour composite using new coupling agent

Abstract

Wood Plastic Composite (WPC) is composites that contain thermosets or thermoplastics and wood flour or sawdust. They can be applied in several fields such as construction, marine, electronic component, and automotive, etc. Application of WPCs in automotive industry is the largest proportion on the market when compared with other WPCs applications. The ratio of polymer and wood has many effects on mechanical and physical properties and appearance also. The advantages of WPCs are low cost, low water absorption and processing flexibility. Because polymer and wood are hydrophobic and hydrophilic, coupling agent is generally required. Acrylic acid monomer was used for a new coupling agent in this work. New aliphatic monomer can be grafted onto polypropylene main chains to improve the mechanical properties and some functional groups can be reacted with hydroxyl groups of cellulose resulting in enhancing interfacial adhesion through chemical bonding. The results showed when increased the coupling agent from 0, 2, 6, and 10%w/w found that mechanical properties, water resistance and degradation temperature increased respectively.