Novel cellulose ester–poly(furfuryl alcohol)–flax fiber biocomposites

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Composites based entirely on renewable materials with flax fibers as reinforcement and cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) as the matrix were prepared by compression molding. Scanning electron microscopy of the fracture surfaces showed insufficient penetration of the matrix into the fiber mat. Rheological measurements indicated that this was caused by the high melt viscosity of CAB. Various amounts of furfuryl alcohol (FA) were added to the matrix to control the melt viscosity of CAB. The melt viscosity was decreased dramatically by the introduction of FA, which acted as a CAB solvent and facilitated the impregnation of the flax fiber mats. The mechanical and dynamic thermal properties of composites based on flax mats and various amounts of CAB and FA were investigated. The addition of FA to CAB and the polymerization of FA resulted in a linearly increased modulus and an increase in the maximum fiber stress (strength) of flax composites but a decreased toughness.Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) showed that CAB/poly(furfuryl alcohol) (PFA) matrices were miscible because the glass-transition temperature (T g ) in the resulting blends occurred between the T g of the homopolymers. DMTA also showed that increasing the amount of FA in the matrix substantially increased the storage modulus of the composites at temperatures lower than 80°C. It was possible to tune the storage properties of the composites through the addition of appropriate amounts of FA to the matrices. The CAB/PFA matrix showed behavior between that of thermoplastics and thermosets because of the miscibility and affinity of its components.

Renewable‐Resource‐Based Green Blends from Poly(furfuryl alcohol) Bioresin and Lignin

“…The tan δ versus temperature curves for the blends are shown in Figure which reveals the existence of only one peak maximum in the blends. This implies that the present blends can be considered as a homogeneous blend . The absence of a shoulder on the tan δ peak near the glass transition temperature of lignin (126 °C) proves the blends as monophasic blend at the macroscopic level .…”

“…Furfural is an aldehyde which is obtained from hydrolysis of pentosan‐rich biomass such as agriculture residues of corn, sugarcane, wheat, oat, cottonseed hulls, and birch wood . PFA has been utilized in diverse fields and applications such as the foundary industry, wood adhesives, as a precursor for nanoporous carbon, glass carbon, matrix for nanocomposites used as absorbents, separation membranes, and catalysts . More importantly, PFA is compatible with many other polymers and inorganic materials and upon pyrolyzing it produces a high carbon yield .…”

Complex Kinetic Pathway of Furfuryl Alcohol Polymerization Catalyzed by Green Montmorillonite Clays

“…3,4 This biomass-based furanic thermoset is widely used in several applications such as for foundry molds, 5 precursors to carbonaceous products, 6 wood modification, 7−9 wood adhesives, 10 and polymer composites. 11 The reported step-growth curing mechanisms of FA can be separated into two stages. First, the hydroxymethyl group of FA condenses on the C 5 position of another furan ring leading to linear oligomers connected by methylene linkages.…”

All-cellulose composites by surface selective dissolution of aligned ligno-cellulosic fibres

“…However, most of the commercially available polymers used as composite matrices are currently petroleum-based, non-biodegradable and regarded as non-sustainable materials [7][8][9][10]. On the other hand, current biobased composites based on biodegradable polymers are often of modest strength and not cost-effective at present [10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”