Enhanced thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy composites by addition of hyperbranched polyglycerol grown on cellulose fibers

• Published in: Journal of polymer research Vol. 23; no. 4; p. 1
• Main Authors: Xiao, Xiane, Lu, Shaorong, Pan, Lulu, Zeng, Cen, He, Zihai, Gao, Jian, Yu, Jinhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.04.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Original Paper; Polymer Sciences; Thermal properties; Epoxy composites; Mechanical properties; Hyperbranched polyglycerol; Cellulose
• ISSN: 1022-9760; 1572-8935
• DOI: 10.1007/s10965-016-0964-y

We reported a novel approach for epoxy composites by incorporation of hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG) grafted sisal cellulose fibers (SCF). In this work, we have synthesized SCF wrapped HPG shell (SCF-g-HPG) by a “grafting from” strategy for the strong interfacial interaction between fillers and matrix. It was found that the thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy composites were greatly improved by incorporating SCF-g-HPG. For example, the impact strength, flexural strength, tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of the composites with 3.0 wt% SCF-g-HPG loading were 38.35 KJ/m 2 , 123.40 MPa, 86.62 MPa, 151.7 MPa, and 417.84 MJ/m 3 , significantly increased by 119.1 %, 55.2 %, 45.6 %, 43.1 %, and 166.1 % respectively, as compared with neat epoxy. In addition, thermal stability of SCF-g-HPG/epoxy composites also showed an obvious enhancement compared with neat epoxy.