It is still a great challenge to prepare lignin/polyolefin composites with good strength and toughness. Inspired by the energy sacrificial mechanism from biomaterials, dynamic hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) are incorporated into the lignin/ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) composite system to improve the interfacial interactions between lignin and EPDM. Such H-bonding interactions are demonstrated to be able to simultaneously improve the modulus, strength, and toughness of lignin/EPDM composites without sacrificing the extensibility. This work provides a facile method for the high-valued utilization of lignin in the preparation of high-performance elastomer composites using bio-renewable resources as reinforcing agent.
Polymeric ablative materials (PAMs) are widely used in spacecraft currently for thermal insulation. However, it is challenging to find a single filler that can improve both ablative and mechanical properties of PAMs. In this study, a new type of hybrid cross-linked polyphosphazene microspheres (PHC) is added to ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) composites as a filler for the first time and its influence on the ablation, mechanical, and thermal properties of EPDM is investigated. The results show that the addition of 3 phr PHC increases the ablation performance by about 10% and enhances the mechanical properties by 20% approximately. In addition, the ablation mechanism is studied in accordance with SEM, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy. On the one hand, PHC has the effect of catalyzing carbonization, thus increasing the rate of residual carbon; on the other hand, PHC changes the morphology of the char layer, forming a cross-linked structure containing P─O─Si bonds on the surface. The findings regarding catalyzing carbonization and the special char layer structure could guide the design of ablative materials.