Nanocellulose-Polypropylene Nanocomposites Enhanced With Coupling Agent

Abstract

As the growth of the nanocellulose is evident,this important material was used to reinforce polypropylene matrix with acoupling agent. Polypropylene (PP) - cellulose nanofibril (CNF) and Fusabondhybrid composites were prepared using twin screw extrusion technique. Thecommercial coupling agent was used to improve mechanical properties of PP/ CNFcomposites. The main challenges were to obtain well-dispersed CNFs in thepolymer matrix and to establish compatible linkages between the CNFs and PP.The various loadings of coupling agent were examined to improve the interfacialadhesion between PP and CNFs. FTIR characterization of the composites wereperformed to confirm the interfacial adhesion of polypropylene and cellulosenanofibrils. The effect of coupling agent on the mechanical and morphologicalproperties of polypropylene/ cellulose nanofibrils hybrid composites wasstudied by tensile testing, dynamic mechanical analysis, and SEM images, respectively.The best mechanical properties of the composite were 19.99 MPa (tensilestrength), 1.067 GPa (Young's Modulus), which represented about 87%improvement, respectively, compared to that of pure polypropylene (14.45MPa,0.570 GPa). Fracture morphology examination indicated good dispersion of CNFsin the PP matrix was achieved in the case of loading coupling agent (0.1 wt %).TGA results show that thermal stability of PP/CNF composites did not changemuch but slightly increased in the treated composites compare to that of theuntreated PP/CNF composite.