• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2002

The main goal of this study was to analyze the effect of process additives, i.e. maleated polypropylene (MAPP), and nucleating agent on the viscoelastic properties of different types of extruded polypropylene-wood plastic composites manufactured from either PP homopolymer, high crystallinity PP or PP impact copolymer using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. And also, the esterification reaction between wood flour and maleated polypropylene, and its role in determining the mechanical properties of wood flour-polypropylene composites was investigated. The wood plastic composites were manufactured using 60% pine wood flour and 40% polypropylene on a Davis-Standard $Woodtruder^{TM}$. Dynamic mechanical thermal properties, polymer damping peaks(than ${\delta}$), storage modulus (E') and loss modulus (E") were measured using a dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer. XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy), also known as ESCA (Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis) study of wood flour treated with MAPP was performed to obtain information on the chemical nature of wood fiber before and after treatment. To analyze the effect of frequency on the dynamic mechanical properties of the various composites, DMA tests were performed over a temperature range of -20 to $100^{\circ}C$, at four different frequencies (1, 5, 10 and 25 Hz), and at a heating rate of $5^{\circ}C/min$. From these results, the activation energy of the various composite was measured using an Arrhenius relationship to investigate the effect of maleated PP and nucleating agent on the measurement of the interphase between the wood and plastic of the extruded polypropylene wood plastic composites.