Cellulose and cellulignin from sugarcane bagasse reinforced polypropylene composites: Effect of acetylation on mechanical and thermal properties

This current work is concerned with the development of polypropylene composites reinforced with cellulose and cellulignin fibers attained from sugarcane bagasse. Moreover, the fibers were chemically modified by acetylating process and its effects on the fiber/matrix interaction were also evaluated. The chemical modi. cation efficiency was verified by FTIR analysis and the fibers morphological aspects of fibers by SEM. Likewise, the influence of modified fibers content in the composites was studied by mechanical (tensile, shear and flexural tests) and thermal analyses (TGA and DSC). After the chemical modi. cation, the FTIR results showed the appearance of acetyl groups and reduction of OH bonds for all fibers. Together with, SEM characterization showed that the acetylation changed the morphology of fibers, resulting in mechanical properties decreases, probably because of the new morphological aspect. The thermal characterization of composites based on untreated and treated cellulose and cellulignin presented intermediary stability in respect to matrix and fiber. Finally, DSC results revealed that the composites reinforced with untreated fibers were more crystalline than neat PP. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.