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Effect of preparation process of microfibrillated cellulose-reinforced polypropylene upon dispersion and mechanical properties

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Abstract

Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC)-reinforced polypropylene (PP) was prepared via two engineering approaches: disintegration of the pulp by a bead mill followed by a melt-compounding process with PP (B-MFC-reinforced PP); and disintegration of the pulp mixed with PP by a twin screw extruder followed by a melt-compounding process (T-MFC-reinforced PP). The effects that the engineering process and the microfibrillation of the pulp had upon the dispersion and mechanical properties were investigated through tensile tests, rheological analysis and X-ray computed tomography. The bead-milling method enabled a uniform microfibrillation of the pulp to under 100 nm, which corresponded to a surface area of 133–146 m2/g for the pulp, found by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. The T-MFC-reinforced PP with 30 wt% MFC content exhibited a tensile modulus of 5.3 GPa and a strength of 85 MPa, whereas the B-MFC-reinforced PP composites with the same content of MFC exhibited values of 4.1 GPa and 59.6 MPa, respectively. Rheological analysis revealed that the complex viscosity and storage modulus at 170 °C of T-MFC-reinforced PP with 30 wt% MFC content are 5–7 and 5–8 times higher than that of B-MFC-reinforced PP, respectively. This indicated that T-MFC was more dispersed in the PP than B-MFC. Therefore, T-MFC produced a more rigid interconnected network in the matrix during the melting state than B-MFC.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Professor Humiaki Nakatsubo and Associate Professor Kentaro Abe of the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH), Kyoto University, for helpful discussions. This study was supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan; the Oji Holdings Corporation; Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi Chemical, Corporation; the DIC Corporation and Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pulp and Paper Innovation Center, Oji Holdings Corporation, Shinonome, Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-8558, Japan

    Katsuhito Suzuki

  2. Pulp and Paper Innovation Center, Oji Holdings Corporation, Jokoji, Amagasaki, Hyogo, 660-0811, Japan

    Yuko Igarashi

  3. Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan

    Yoko Homma, Hiroaki Okumura & Hiroyuki Yano

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  1. Katsuhito Suzuki
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Suzuki, K., Homma, Y., Igarashi, Y. et al. Effect of preparation process of microfibrillated cellulose-reinforced polypropylene upon dispersion and mechanical properties. Cellulose 24, 3789–3801 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1355-1

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