The synergetic effect of zinc phthalate and carboxymethyl cellulose–carbon nanotube of glass fibers surfaces on improving strength and toughness of polypropylene composite

Abstract

AbstractThe interfacial interaction between glass fibers (GFs) and polypropylene (PP) resin is the key factor which affects the properties of GFs reinforced PP composites. The β‐transcrystallization (β‐TC) structure induced by β‐nucleating agent (β‐NA) at the interface is beneficial to improving the interfacial performance and comprehensive mechanical properties. However, due to the poor adhesive ability, it is difficult to introduce β‐NAs onto GFs surface directly. In this work, for solving above problem, the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and NH2 functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used to construct the network structure on GFs (CMC‐CNT‐GF) through plenty of active groups. Furthermore, the zinc phthalate (ZnPht, β‐NA) was synthesized and coated on GFs surface by hydrogen bonds interaction with CMC‐CNT and physical anchoring effect (ZnPht@CMC‐CNT‐GF). Finally, the hybrid GFs reinforced PP composite (iPP/ZnPht@CMC‐CNT‐GF) was prepared, which exhibited enhanced tensile, flexural, and impact strength by 20.1, 9.3, and 33.3%, respectively when compared with the iPP/raw GF due to the formation of β‐TC and improvement of interfacial adhesion. This study provides an effective strategy to introduce β‐NAs on GFs with network structure for improving interfacial properties by inducing β‐TC to enhance the strength and toughness of composite, which could be applied in other fiber/semicrystalline polymer systems.