PREPARATION PROCESS AND INTERFACE MODIFICATION ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BAMBOO FIBER/ POLYPROPYLENE CARBONATE COMPOSITES

In this study, bamboo fiber (BF) and polypropylene carbonate (PPC) were used to prepare BF/PPC composite materials. The single factor test combined with orthogonal experiment was used to investigate the effects of different hot pressing process conditions (hot pressing temperature, hot pressing pressure and hot pressing time) on the mechanical properties of BF/PPC composites. Based on the hot pressing process results, the filler nano-calcium carbonate (Nano-CaCO3), γ-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (KH550) and maleic anhydride (MAH) were added respectively to the composites to improve the interface between BF and PPC in order to increase the mechanical properties of the composites. The results showed that the reasonable preparation conditions of BF/PPC composites with the best mechanical properties were set at 170°C, under 1.9 MPa for 10 min. Compared with PPC samples, the tensile modulus, bending modulus and impact strength of BF/PPC composites could be increased to 102%, 38.69% and 65.13%, respectively. The optimal interface modification treatments have been proved that nano-CaCO3 with 10% content could increase the tensile modulus and impact strength to 70.53% and 65.84%, while the best result for the bending modulus of BF/PPC composites was modified with MAH with 2.5% content, which could increase to 28.46%.