Preparation and physical properties of wood/polypropylene/clay nanocomposites

Wood plastic composites (WPCs) are attracting a lot of interests because they are economic, environmentally friendly, and show fairly good performance. To improve the performance of a wood/polypropylene (PP) composite, an organoclay was incorporated as a nanosize filler in this work. WPCs were prepared by melt blending followed by compression molding, and their performance was investigated by universal testing machine, izod impact tester, dynamic mechanical analyzer, thermal mechanical analyzer, differential scanning calorimetry, and TGA. Maleic anhydride polypropylene copolymer (MAPP) was used to increase compatibility between the PP matrix and wood particles and also improve the dispersion and exfoliation of the organoclay in the PP matrix. XRD analysis showed that the matrix of the WPCs with organoclay had intercalated structure. The SEM images of the WPCs with MAPP showed improved interfacial adhesion between the matrix and wood particles. The degree of water absorption increased with immersion time, but it could be restrained by incorporating MAPP. The performance of the WPCs was improved by the incorporation of the organoclay. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009