In this study, the spray dried nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) was modified by a silane coupling agent to be used in polypropylene (PP)‐copolymer matrix in the presence of maleic anhydride grafted PP (PP‐g‐MAH) compatibilizer. The PP/NFC composites were melt compounded and injection molded. In the first stage, the NFC was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was shown that fibrillation in aqueous media through high‐pressure homogenization was successfully achieved. The nanofibrils having diameter smaller than 50 nm were obtained. The X‐ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS) showed the presence of the silane groups on the NFC surface. Elastic modulus improved by the addition of the high modulus NFC to PP, but the yield strength was not improved. On the other hand, different than many inorganic micron‐sized fillers, the elongation‐at‐break value did not drop much. Differential scanning calorimeter experiments indicated that the NFC acted as a nucleating agent. Rheological investigations exhibited that NFC decreased the viscosity of the PP. The addition of NFC to PP improved the thermal resistance of the PP as can be understood from the TGA experiments. It was demonstrated that renewable nanofiller can be a feasible method to functionalize the existing synthetic polymers. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 60: 352–361, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers

中文翻译：

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聚丙烯/喷涂干燥和硅烷处理的纳米原纤化纤维素复合材料

在这项研究中，喷雾干燥的纳米原纤化纤维素（NFC）被硅烷偶联剂改性，可在马来酸酐接枝PP（PP- g）存在的情况下用于聚丙烯（PP）共聚物基质中‐MAH）增容剂。将PP / NFC复合材料熔融混合并注塑。在第一阶段，NFC的特征在于扫描电子显微镜（SEM），透射电子显微镜（TEM）和原子力显微镜（AFM）。结果表明，通过高压均质化成功实现了水介质中的原纤化。获得了具有小于50nm的直径的纳米原纤维。X射线光电子能谱（XPS）显示NFC表面上存在硅烷基。通过向PP中添加高模量NFC可以改善弹性模量，但屈服强度没有提高。另一方面，与许多无机微米级填料不同，断裂伸长率值下降不多。差示扫描量热仪实验表明NFC充当成核剂。流变学研究表明，NFC降低了PP的粘度。从TGA实验可以理解，将NFC添加到PP中改善了PP的耐热性。结果表明，可再生纳米填料可以成为可行的方法来功能化现有的合成聚合物。POLYM。ENG。SCI。，60：352–361，2019.©2019塑料工程师协会