Preparation and Characterization of Esterified Bamboo Flour by an In Situ Solid Phase Method.

Bamboo plastic composites have become a hot research topic and a key focus of research. However, many strong, polar, hydrophilic hydroxyl groups in bamboo flour (BF) results in poor interfacial compatibility between BF and hydrophobic polymers. Maleic anhydride-esterified (MAH-e-BF) and lactic acid-esterified bamboo flour (LA-e-BF) were prepared while using an in situ solid-phase esterification method with BF as the raw material and maleic anhydride or lactic acid as the esterifying agent. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results confirmed that BF esterification with maleic anhydride and lactic acid was successful, with the esterification degrees of MAH-e-BF and LA-e-BF at 21.04 ± 0.23% and 14.28 ± 0.17%, respectively. Esterified BF was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, contact angle testing, X-ray diffractometry, and thermogravimetric analysis. The results demonstrated that esterified BF surfaces were covered with graft polymer and the surface roughness and bonding degree of MAH-e-BF clearly larger than those of LA-e-BF. The hydrophobicity of esterified BF was significantly higher than BF and the hydrophobicity of MAH-e-BF was better than LA-e-BF. The crystalline structure of esterified BF showed some damage, while MAH-e-BF exhibited a greater decrease in crystallinity than LA-e-BF. Overall, the esterification reaction improved BF thermoplasticity, with the thermoplasticity of MAH-e-BF appearing to be better than LA-e-BF.

Effect of Bamboo Flour Grafted Lactide on the Interfacial Compatibility of Polylactic Acid/Bamboo Flour Composites.

Bamboo flour (BF) was grafted onto lactide (LA) in the molten state using stannous octoate as a catalyst to form BF-g-LA. Then, polylactic acid (PLA) was blended with BF (PLA/BF, 85/15 wt %) to prepare PLA/BF/BF-g-LA composites using BF-g-LA as a compatibilizer. The grafting rate of BF was characterized using infrared testing and elemental analysis. To investigate the effect of BF-g-LA on the performance of PLA/BF/BF-g-LA composites, the phase morphology, thermal stability, and mechanical properties of the composites were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and universal material testing, respectively. The addition of BF-g-LA improved the interface compatibility between PLA and BF. When the BF-g-LA content was 2 phr, the tensile and impact strengths of PLA/BF/BF-g-LA composites were 55.3 MPa and 9.56 kJ/m2, representing 30% and 27% increases, respectively, relative to corresponding values for PLA/BF composites.