Highly compatible wood thermoplastic composites from lignocellulosic material modified in ionic liquids: Preparation and thermal properties

A study of converting chemically modified wood into thermoplastic materials was undertaken to de- velop a new technology platform for the effective utiliza- tion of wood-based lignocellulosic materials. Highly substituted benzoylated spruce thermomechanical pulp (TMP) and lauroylated spruce TMP were used as compo- nents for thermoplastic composites of poly(styrene) and poly(propylene). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dif- ferential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) were used to characterize the interfacial mor- phology and thermal properties of the resultant compos- ite filaments. The coupling of the interfacial morphology effort and that of torque analysis applied during process- ing indicated that the thorough modification of wood fibers by benzoylation and/or lauroylation reactions can improve the compatibility between the wood-based ligno- cellulosic materials and poly(styrene) and poly(propyl- ene). Thermal analysis showed that, with the addition of wood derivatives into poly(styrene) and poly(propylene) matrices, a slight decrease in their Tgs was observed. Fur- thermore, all of the prepared composites showed improved thermal stability, as revealed by TGA. The re- sultant thermoplastic wood composites exhibited good melting properties and were readily extruded into fila- ments or sheets. V C 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 111: 2468-2476, 2009