Thermal and colorimetry properties of bleached wheat straw/LDPE biocomposites

Abstract

This research was done to study the thermal and colorimetric properties of bleached wheat straw/polyethylene biocomposites. Thus, wheat straw was firstly bleached using different natural and/or chemical bleaching methods. The bleached wheat straw and the pure polyethylene were then mixed in ratio of 40 to 60 by twin screw extrouder at 145OC. Maleic anhydride polyethylene was also applied in %10 of polyethylene weight. Thermal and colorimetric properties of treatments were evaluated and compared to control sample (pure polyethylene). The results showed that the unbleached wheat straw composite had the lowest lightness value. Biocomposites containing bleached wheat straw pulp with xylanase and hydrogen peroxide 1% had the most lightness value after pure polyethylene. The results of the thermal behavior of the composites from DSC curves showed that the melting temperature of bleached wheat straw pulp with xylanase and hydrogen peroxide1% composite was higher than pure polyethylene and the others. The maximum and the minimum decomposition temperature of the composites belonged to the unbleached wheat straw (424.76°C) and the bleached wheat straw pulp (354.23°C), respectively.

Keywords

• Biocomposite
• Bleaching
• Colorimetric properties
• Thermal properties