Thermal Conductivity and Mechanical Properties of Wood Sawdust/Polycarbonate Composites

Abstract

Wood sawdust was increasingly being used as reinforcement in commercial thermoplastics due to low cost, reusable raw materials. One of the problems of using wood sawdust is its interfacial adhesion with polymeric matrix. In this research, two types of silane coupling agents (N-(3-Trimethoxysilylpropyl) diethyllenetriamine and γ-aminopropyl trimethoxy silane) and sodium hydroxide were used for the modification of interfacial adhesion in wood sawdust/polycarbonate composites. The effects of chemical treatment and wood sawdust content (10, 20 and 30 % by wt) were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal conductivity analysis. Youngs modulus of composites was in general higher than the neat PC except for the one with γ-aminopropyl trimethoxy silane treatment. Tensile modulus of composites was increased as the filler loading increased. Nevertheless, the addition of wood sawdust resulted in the tensile strength reduction of the composites. The SEM micrographs reveal that the aggregation of wood particles and weak interfacial bond between the treated wood sawdust and the polymeric matrix with increasing filler loading. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity was reduced significantly with the increment of wood sawdust contents.