Modified Physical Properties of Polymer Composites Substitution of Hydroxyl Groups in Microcrystalline Cellulose Filler

초록

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) has various advantages including high mechanical properties. However, too strong interactions among MCCs can lead to aggregation of the MCC fillers within polymer composites, which can reduce interfacial between polymer matrix and filler and reinforcement effects. Herein, we employed three different chemically modified MCC (m-MCC) where hydroxyl groups of the MCCs was substituted by either methyl or hydroxypropyl groups. The m-MCC and ester type thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) were compounded by an extrusion process. As the chemical substitution of hydroxyl groups can reduce the number of hydrogen bonding sites or increase m-MCC intermolecular distances, both crystallinity of m-MCCs and polymer-filler interaction can also be manipulated. In this presentation, we will discuss structure-property relationships of TPU-MCC composites with focuses on correlation of crystallinity and dispersion of m-MCC with mechanical properties of the TPU-MCC composites.