Influence of Maleic Anhydride/Glycidyl Methacrylate Cografted Polylactic Acid on Properties of Wood Flour/PLA Composites

Abstract

Graft copolymers of PLA-g-MAH, PLA-g-GMA and PLA-co-MAH/GMA were prepared by means of melt grafting. The structure of the graft copolymers were characterized by FTIR.Wood flour/PLA composites were prepared by injection molding with three kinds of graft copolymers as compatibilizers, and the fractured morphology of composites was investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results show that there is no obvious phase interface between wood flour and PLA,which indicating the interfacial compatibility of wood flour/PLA composites is improved after adding different graft copolymers. The determination results of mechanical properties, processing flowability and dynamic rheological property of composites prepared with different graft copolymers reveal that, compared to the composite without compatibilizer, the tensile strength and impact strength of wood flour/PLA composites are increased by 9.54% and 7.23% respectively, and the equilibrium torque, shear heat, storage modulus and complex viscosity are all increased after adding maleic anhydride/glycidyl methacrylate cografted polylactic acid.

Keywords

• polylactic acid
• maleic anhydride
• glycidyl methacrylate
• PLA grafted copolymer
• compati-bility