Effects of Wood Flour Size on the Physical Properties of Polypropylene/Wood Flour Composites

Polymer/wood flour composites are recently attracting a lot of interest because they are economic and ecofriendly. In this study, the effects of wood flour size on the thermal and mechanical properties of a polypropylene/wood flour composite were investigated. Mechanical properties of the composite samples prepared by melt-mixing and compression molding were tested by UTM and an izod impact tester, and thermal properties of them were measured by TGA, DMA, DSC and TMA. The best coupling agent was selected by testing three kinds of maleic anhydride modified polypropylene coupling agents, and under the same condition, the effects of wood flour size on the physical properties of the composite were investigated. According to the test results for four different wood flour sizes of 600, 250, 180 and 150 mu m, flexural strength, flexural modulus, crystallinity and water-resistivity of the composite increased with decreasing wood flour size.