Effect of maleated polypropylene on the performance of polypropylene/cellulose composite

Composites consisting of a polypropylene (PP) and highly crystalline cellulosic microfibers were prepared by melting mixing with the maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) as a compatibilizer. The results show that even with addition of a small amount of MAPP, the mechanical properties of the composites improved dramatically. The improvement is attributed to stronger interfacial adhesion caused by esterification between anhydride groups of MAPP and hydroxyl groups of cellulose, although the number of the ester bonds is too few to be detected by FT‐IR spectroscopy. It was also found that tensile strength and Young's modulus increased with the increasing MAPP contents in the composites, and the optimum MAPP content is about 10 wt% for the composite with cellulose content of 30 wt%. SEM indicated that the interfacial adhesion between cellulose fibers and PP improved in MAPP‐containing composites. The DSC results showed that MAPP has little effect on melting and crystallization temperatures of PP in the composites. POLYM. COMPOS., 26:448–453, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers