Nano‐crystalline cellulose, chemical blowing agent, and mold temperature effect on morphological, physical/mechanical properties of polypropylene

Abstract

ABSTRACTPolypropylene (PP)/nano‐crystalline cellulose (NCC) composites and foams were produced through extrusion compounding combined with injection molding. From the samples produced, a complete morphological, physical, and mechanical analysis was performed to study the effect of NCC concentration (0–5wt %), foaming agent content (0 to 2wt %) and mold temperature (30°C and 80°C). NCC was very effective to reduce cell size (42–71%) and increase cell density (5–37 times) of the foams, while slightly increasing the overall density (2–7%). The results showed that NCC addition increased the specific tensile modulus (15–22%), specific tensile strength (1–14%) and specific flexural modulus (13–26%) of PP, but decreased specific impact strength (10–20%) and specific elongation at break (50–96%). © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42845.