Functionalized soybean/tung oils for combined plasticization of jute fiber-reinforced polypropylene

In this work, the combined plasticization of functionalized epoxy soybean/tung oils anhydride (ESO/TOA) for jute fiber-reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites is investigated. The structure, thermal stability, crystallization behaviors and mechanical properties of PP/jute/ESO/TOA composites are characterized and tested in detail by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mechanical property tests. The tensile and flexural strengths of PP/jute/ESO/TOA composites slightly decrease while the impact strength significantly increases with the addition of ESO and TOA. The FTIR spectra show ESO and TOA from gel with TOA as the skeleton and ESO as the crosslinking agent. The PP/jute/ESO/TOA composites with a very rough structure is observed through SEM images, which is attributed to an extraordinary plasticization of ESO and TOA on the PP/jute composites. In addition, ESO and TOA markedly change the decomposition process and the crystallization temperature of PP/jute/ESO/TOA composites. This may be attributed to the formation of the gels, which restricts the deformation of the composites and stores more deformation energy.