Development of polystyrene composites based on blue agave bagasse by in situ RAFT polymerization

A new approach for the production of polystyrene-blue agave bagasse (BAB) composite materials is presented. In this approach, dried powdered raw BAB is press molded in the presence of a coupling agent based on glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), producing a hybrid material of poly(GMA) grafted onto BAB. The in situ reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of styrene in presence of this poly(GMA)-graft-BAB hybrid material results in a reinforced composite material. These composites are characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, gel permeation chromatography, scanning electron microscopy, impact test analyses, and dynamic mechanical analysis. The characterization results show that the amount of GMA coupling agent plays a key role in the efficiency of the process, manifested as improvement of the mechanical properties of polystyrene. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47089.