Modified Polyethylene for Synthetic Wood Applications

摘要

Polyethylene as a polyolefin has been grafted with maleic anhydride under optimized conditions to attain maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene with higher grafting yield. Maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene has been characterized with FT-IR spectroscopy and thermal analysis as well as some chemical tests. A suitable amount of saw dust as an example for natural fibers has been collected and prepared for hot press casting with polyethylene to attain wood plastic composite. Maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene was used as a coupling agent to enhance the compatibility between polyethylene and saw dust. Samples of wood plastic composite were prepared without maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene as blank. Wood plastic composite samples have been tested regarding mechanical, physical and chemical characteristics.