Influence of m-Isopropenyi-α,α-dimethylbenzyl isacyanate grafted polypropylene on the interfacial interaction of wood-ficur/polypropylene composites

In this article, the effects of m-isopropenyl-alpha,alpha-dimethylbenzyl isocyanate grafted polypropylene (m-TMI-PP) on the interfacial interaction of wood-flour/poly-propylene (WF/PP) were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetry, dynamic rheological analysis, and mechanical properties tests. The experimental results demonstrated that m-TMI-PP greatly improved the interfacial interaction between WF and PP. According to the DSC results, m-TMI-PP made the crystallization temperature and the crystallization degree of PP in WF/mTMI-PP/PP decrease when compared with WF/PP composite without m-TMI-PP, but it was still higher than pure PP. These results demonstrated that WF presented the nucleate effect for the crystallization of PP and m-TMI-PP improved the interfacial adhesive, which restrained the mobility of PP chain. The rheological analysis indicated that the complex viscosity, storage, and loss modular of WF/PP composite increased, and the tan 6 decreased with the addition of m-TMI-PP. This was attributed to the strong improvement effects of m-TMI-PP on the interfacial interaction of the composites, and was further confirmed by the mechanical properties tests and SEM analysis of the composites. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.