Characterization of Epoxy Composites Reinforced with Wax Encapsulated Microcrystalline Cellulose

Yuanfeng Pan; Ying Pan; Qingzheng Cheng; Yi Liu; Charles Essien; Brian Via; Xiaoying Wang; Runcang Sun; Steven Taylor

doi:10.3390/polym8120415

Characterization of Epoxy Composites Reinforced with Wax Encapsulated Microcrystalline Cellulose

Polymers (Basel). 2016 Nov 30;8(12):415. doi: 10.3390/polym8120415.

Authors

Yuanfeng Pan^{1

2}, Ying Pan³, Qingzheng Cheng⁴, Yi Liu⁵, Charles Essien⁶, Brian Via⁷, Xiaoying Wang⁸, Runcang Sun⁹, Steven Taylor¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Forest Products Development Center, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. jnupyf@hotmail.com.
² State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China. jnupyf@hotmail.com.
³ College of Chemical Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. panying@qdu.edu.cn.
⁴ Forest Products Development Center, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. qzc0007@auburn.edu.
⁵ College of Material Science and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China. liuyi.zhongguo@163.com.
⁶ Forest Products Development Center, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. cze0017@auburn.edu.
⁷ Forest Products Development Center, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. bkv0003@auburn.edu.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China. xyw@scut.edu.cn.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China. rcsun3@bjfu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Department of Biosystems Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. taylost@auburn.edu.

Abstract

The effect of paraffin wax encapsulated microcrystalline cellulose (EMC) particles on the mechanical and physical properties of EMC/epoxy composites were investigated. It was demonstrated that the compatibility between cellulose and epoxy resin could be maintained due to partial encapsulation resulting in an improvement in epoxy composite mechanical properties. This work was unique because it was possible to improve the physical and mechanical properties of the EMC/epoxy composites while encapsulating the microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) for a more homogeneous dispersion. The addition of EMC could increase the stiffness of epoxy composites, especially when the composites were wet. The 1% EMC loading with a 1:2 ratio of wax:MCC demonstrated the best reinforcement for both dry and wet properties. The decomposition temperature of epoxy was preserved up to a 5% EMC loading and for different wax:MCC ratios. An increase in wax encapsulated cellulose loading did increase water absorption but overall this absorption was still low (<1%) for all composites.

Keywords: epoxy composites; microcapsules; microcrystalline cellulose; paraffin wax; surface property.