Effect of Polymer Blends on the Properties of Foamed Wood-Polymer Composites
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
2.2. Composites Preparation
2.3. Extrusion Foaming
2.4. Characterization
2.4.1. Thermal Analysis
2.4.2. Rheological Property Testing
2.4.3. Morphological Analysis
2.4.4. Mechanical Property Testing
2.4.5. Density Measurements
2.4.6. Vicat Softening Point Testing
3. Results and Discussions
3.1. Thermal Property
3.2. Rheological Property
3.3. Cell Morphology
3.4. Mechanical Properties
3.5. Apparent Density and Vicat Softening Temperature
4. Conclusions
- The addition of HDPE and POE resulted in the two well-separated melting peaks in the DSC curves. But only POE could significantly increase both the oscillating shear modulus and the complex viscosity of the composites.
- Compared with HDPE and microcrystalline wax, the sample with the introduction of POE could achieve the minimum cell size 78 μm and the maximum cell density 2.3 × 104 cells/cm3, which caused a significant decrease of 58% in the cell size and a great increase of 170% in the cell population density. But the velocity difference of composites flowing in the sheet die made the shape of bubbles irregular. The bubbles on the radial section were stretched into the shape similar with the convex lens. Besides, the bubbles gradually became crescent-shaped along the extrusion direction.
- Compared with the tensile and flexural property, the impact strength of the samples was significantly improved with the addition of POE. And the impact strength of sample blended with POE at the ratio of 6/4 increased by 84% compared with the sample without blending. Besides, the addition of microcrystalline wax contributed to the minimum apparent density of sample with the decline of 9%. Meanwhile, among the three polymer blends, the addition of HDPE contributed to the minimum Vicat softening temperature 133.7 °C at the blending ratio of 6/4.
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
Nomenclature
PP | Polypropylene | Heat of fusion generated by the cold crystallization | |
WF | Wood flour | Theoretical heat of fusion of 100% crystalline PP | |
POE | Polyolefin elastomer | ω | Weight fraction of PP in the sample |
HDPE | High-density polyethylene | G′ | Shear storage modulus |
DSC | Differential Scanning Calorimeter | G″ | Loss modulus |
PVC | Polyvinyl chloride | η | Complex viscosity |
PS | Polystyrene | Number average diameter of all cells in one micrograph | |
PBT | Polybutylene terephthalate | di | Diameter of a single cell |
PTFE | Polytetrafluoroethylene | n | Number of counted cells |
MAH-g-PP | Maleic anhydride-g-PP | N0 | Number of cells per unit volume of the polymer |
AC | Azodicarbonamide | A | Area of an SEM graph |
WPC | Wood-polymer composites | M | Magnification factor |
Tm | Melting temperature | Density of the unfoamed sample | |
Tc | Crystallization temperature | Density of the foamed sample | |
Xc | Crystallinity percentage | HDT | Hot Deformation Temperature |
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Sample | Weight (%) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
PP | POE | HDPE | Microcrystalline Wax | |
1 | 100 | - | - | - |
2 | 90 | 10 | - | - |
3 | 80 | 20 | - | - |
4 | 70 | 30 | - | - |
5 | 60 | 40 | - | - |
6 | 90 | - | 10 | - |
7 | 80 | - | 20 | - |
8 | 70 | - | 30 | - |
9 | 60 | - | 40 | - |
10 | 99 | - | - | 1 |
11 | 98 | - | - | 2 |
12 | 97 | - | - | 3 |
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Wang, S.; Xue, P.; Jia, M.; Tian, J.; Zhang, R. Effect of Polymer Blends on the Properties of Foamed Wood-Polymer Composites. Materials 2019, 12, 1971. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12121971
Wang S, Xue P, Jia M, Tian J, Zhang R. Effect of Polymer Blends on the Properties of Foamed Wood-Polymer Composites. Materials. 2019; 12(12):1971. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12121971
Chicago/Turabian StyleWang, Suwei, Ping Xue, Mingyin Jia, Jing Tian, and Run Zhang. 2019. "Effect of Polymer Blends on the Properties of Foamed Wood-Polymer Composites" Materials 12, no. 12: 1971. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12121971