Effect of surface modification on the interface quality between hemp and linear medium‐density polyethylene

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this work, hemp fibers (mercerized or not) were modified by a coupling agent (maleated polyethylene) to evaluate the level of interfacial improvement related to wettability or adhesion in LMDPE composites. To do so, different analyses in the solid (thermogravimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis, and scanning electron microscopy) and melt (rheology) states were combined. From the results obtained, it can be shown that mercerization mostly controls the level of wettability (physical contact) of the fibers, while the addition of a coupling agent mostly controls interfacial adhesion (chemical interactions). These conclusions were obtained based on shifts in transition temperatures ( T g and T α ), as well as maxima in van Gurp–Palmen plots. Overall, the best properties were obtained when mercerization was combined with coupling agent addition under optimized processing conditions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133 , 43802.