Papers by Author: Shen Yuan Fu

Abstract: In the presented paper, diethanol amine is employed to plasticize corn starch, and plasticized starch is incorporated into polypropylene to create semibio-based composites with the aid of compatibilizer, maleic anhydride-grafted PP (PPMA). Compared with PP/starch blend, the presence of diethanol amine changes the morphology and increases the plasticity of starch due to the reduction effect of intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions. Adding PPMA could reduce the dispersed size of starch granules in the polymer matrix due to in situ reactive compatibilization. Addition of 30 wt% PPMA decreases the starch granules size from ~10 μm to ~5 μm, and increases the tensile strength from 16 MPa for PP/plasticized starch to 30 MPa, increased by 87.5%. Thus, as-created bio-composites with improved mechanical properties will find many potential applications such as packaging.

Abstract: Native cellulose nanofibers with high strength ratio may create an alternative as the blade material for wind power field. In this work, cellulose nanofibers (CN) with high L/D ratio was fabricated by combined biological treatment and mechanical disintegration processes. Then, we created a high-performance cellulose layered nanocomposites via layer by layer (LBL) assembling strategy. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations show that common paper pulp exhibits a nearly spherical or amorphous structure, while as-made cellulose nanofibers displays a high aspect ratio, with a length of ca. 10~100 μm and a diameter of ca. 30~100 nm. However, some relative big fibres bundles are still observed. Mechanical measurements demonstrate that the tensile strength, Young’s modulus and elongation at break of layered CN nanocomposites (CNLC) reach 114MPa. 7.0GPa and 68 %,respectively, while only 63MPa, 3.3 GPa and 27 % for layered common paper pulp composites (PFLC). Flexural tests results show that CNLC gives a flexural strength and modulus of 263 MPa and 19 GPa, while only 114 MPa and 11 GPa for PFLC. Fracture surface observations indicate that though layered structure can be observed for both PFLC and CNLC, much thinner layer and long fibrous structure only exist in CNLC, which results in high mechanical performance.