A bio-based compatibilizer (ESO-g-S-HPG) to improve the compatibility and mechanical properties of CaCO3/HDPE composites

Compatibilizers allow for the combination of two materials with vastly different polarities. The dosage of most compatibilizers must be more than 5 wt% to be effective—an expensive high dosage level that changes polymer composite properties. Thus, in this study, renewable resource epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) was used as the raw material to synthesize the end-hydroxyl group bio-based compatibilizer ESO-g-S-HPG. The experimental results revealed that composites prepared with ESO-g-S-HPG had better mechanical properties (i.e., tensile strength , impact strength , and energy storage modulus) than those prepared with a commercially available compatibilizer (TA 1618). The addition of 1 wt% of ESO-g-S-HPG significantly enhanced the interfacial compatibility between the HDPE and CaCO 3 , making it a good candidate for application in the field of HDPE composite filling and reinforcement, as evidenced by the minimal voids revealed by the scanning electron microscopy results. The molecular dynamics simulation results revealed that hyperbranched compatibilizers can eliminate filler aggregation and enhanced filler-matrix interaction, yielding effects that are better than those of linear compatibilizers. The compatibilizer proposed here can be a useful material for the fabrication of the next generation of composites applied in diverse industrial fields.