Compósitos PP/Pó de madeira de Jatobá compatibilizados com EPDM-MA.

Abstract

Nowadays, tons of industrial wood residue are daily produced, and reusing this material otherwise would be discharged in the environment has become an economically viable and environmentally friendly alternative for new products processing. Thus, the present work aimed to compound Polypropylene (PP)/sawdust residues and to investigate the influence of PP molecular weight (PP H103 and PP H503) as also the addition of maleic anhydride grafting ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM-MA) compatibilizer, at three contents 5.0, 7.5, and 12.5 wt%. Composites were melt extruded using a corrotational twin screw extruder and specimens were injection moulded. The sawdust residue was characterized by particle size distribution, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry (TG) scanning electron microscopy (SEM), whereas composites were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetry (TG), mechanical properties (impact, tensile, flexural and hardness), thermal deflection temperature (HDT), Vicat softening temperature, water absorption and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Increases in elastic modulus, Shore D hardness, HDT and Vicat softening temperature of binary composites were observed related to neat polymers. Nevertheless, losses were verified in impact strength, tensile strength and elongation at break. Compatibilized composites with EPDM-MA presented significant increase in the impact strength; especially the compound with 10% EPDM-MA and PP H503, which is attributed to improved interactions provided by EPDM-MA, as well as, wood filler coated rubber particles improving the impact strength as observed through SEM images.