The impact of the nature of nanofillers on the performance of wood polymer nanocomposites

Published Date

May 2008, Vol.39(5):727–737, doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2008.02.004

Title 

The impact of the nature of nanofillers on the performance of wood polymer nanocomposites

• Author 

• Xiaolin Cai ^a
• Bernard Riedl ^a,,
• S.Y. Zhang ^b
• Hui Wan ^b

• aCERSIM/CRB, Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada G1K 7P4
• bForintek Canada Corp., Québec, QC, Canada G1V 4R4

Received 17 April 2007. Revised 5 February 2008. Accepted 6 February 2008. Available online 13 February 2008.

Abstract

Wood polymer nanocomposites have been prepared from aspen wood using melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) and montmorillonite nanoclay. The nanoparticles were ground with a ball-mill and mixed with the prepolymer to form suspensions that were subsequently impregnated into the wood and in situ polymerized. The influence of the nature of nanofillers and interphase interactions between nanoparticles and MUF on the physical/mechanical properties of the resulting wood polymer nanocomposites was investigated, using SEM, TEM and Electron Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA) methods. Significant improvements in wood properties, including surface hardness, modulus of elasticity, dimensional stability and water repellence, were obtained with the addition of hydrophobic nanoparticles into the wood. The improved properties could be ascribed to inherent properties as well as better interphase between MUF and nanoparticles, and their co-reinforcement on the wood. Ball-mill treatment favored the dispersion of the nanoparticles into the wood, but broke down functional groups on the hydrophobic nanoclay surface, which was detrimental for the bonding between the nanoparticles and the MUF matrix.

Keywords

Melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) resin

B. Interphase

A. Wood

E. Thermosetting resin

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• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 418 656 2437; fax: +1 418 656 2091.

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