A green route is demonstrated to prepare biobased composites from renewable resources like starch and soft wood with engineering aspects. In this process, three different cross-linkers such as glutaraldehyde (GA), dimethyloldihydroxyethyleneurea (DMDHEU), and N-methylol acrylamide (NMA) have been used to cross-link methyl methacrylate-grafted starch with wood flour. Water is used as a solvent and glycerol as a plasticizer in the preparation of wood starch composites. Effects of these cross-linkers on different properties of the composites have been investigated through a limiting oxygen index test and mechanical, dynamic mechanical, and thermogravimetric analysis. DMDHEU cross-linked composites show the least water uptake capacity compared to NMA- and GA-based cross-linked composites due to their better cross-linked structure as DMDHEU contains a higher number of functional groups. The interaction among polymer, cross-linker, and wood has been found to be the maximum in DMDHEU cross-linked composites as revealed by FTIR and SEM studies. DMDHEU cross-linked composites also exhibit higher mechanical and thermal properties.

Wood polymer composite (WPC) was prepared using solution-blended high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), wood flour (WF) and polyethylene-co-glycidyl methacrylate (PE-co-GMA). The effect of nanoclay, SiO 2 and ZnO addition on the properties of the composite was examined. The distribution of silicate layers, SiO 2 and ZnO nanopowder was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The improvement in miscibility among polymers was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) studies reveal the interaction between polymer, wood, clay, SiO 2 and ZnO. WPC treated with 3 phr each of clay, SiO 2 and ZnO showed an improvement in mechanical properties, thermal stability and a decrease in water uptake capacity.

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Biodegradable and UV resistant wood starch gluten nanocomposites (WSGNC) were prepared successfully from the natural polymers like starch and gluten, natural crosslinker and natural solvent via a green route using solution blending technique followed by compression molding. In this procedure, the starch gluten (50/50) blend was grafted with methyl methacrylate (MMA-g-SG) and citric acid was used to crosslink the MMA-g-SG with wood flour from Ipomoea carnea using water as a solvent. Later, Nano TiO 2 was added in the composites to improve the properties like UV stability and flammability. The effects of TiO 2 nanoparticles on biodegradability and UV stability of the composites were thoroughly investigated. The bacterial growth on the samples was analyzed by UV spectrophotometry and morphological features of the bacterial degraded samples was investigated by SEM study. The UV-degraded samples were analyzed by FTIR and SEM study. It was observed that the incorporation of 3 phr TiO 2 in the composites significantly improved the UV stability and hardness values of the composites. The flammability and dimensional stability of the nanocomposite were also improved with 3 phr nano TiO 2 loading compared to TiO 2 -untreated composites. POLYM.