Effect of maleic anhydride grafted styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (MA-SEBS) on impact fracture behavior of polypropylene / wood fiber composites

Abstract

MA-SEBS as compatibilizer and impact modifier was incorporated into Polypropylene/Wood Fiber (PP/WF) to enhance interface adhesion and impact strength of the composite. The effect of MA-SEBS content on the impact fracture behavior of PP/WF composites was studied. The impact properties of composites with 8% MA-SEBS reached the maximum value. And further increasing of MA-SEBS content to 10% did not improve the fracture toughness, but improved the stiffness of composites by DMA analysis. This was attributed to the improved PP/WF adhesion. As the MA-SEBS content is more than 8%, the molecule interaction of PP and WF was expected to much stronger than lower MA-SEBS. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed to analyze the impact fracture surface and showed a stronger affinity for the wood surfaces.

Keywords

Polypropylene / Wood fiber/polypropylene composites / Fracture behavior / Impact test