Preparation And Properties Of Polymer Composites Based On Scrap Leather Fibers

Polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and other petroleum-basedgeneral-purpose synthetic resin have good properties, such as processability anddurability. Because of that, they are widely used in home electric appliances,automobile parts, building materials, food packaging and so on. So they are oneof the indispensable materials to people’s lives. However, with the exploitationof fossil resources, these non-renewable resources are dwindling and the publicattention to environment issues are growing. Therefore, it is necessary to findother materials, which can replace synthetic resin. But, after throw，the gooddurability of these synthetic resin products become disadvantages. Their poordegradation in the nature will cause adverse effects to the ecosystem. Therefore,the development and promotion of biodegradable materials and high-value useof biological resources has become the major research topic and direction ofcontemporary economic and social development.The scrap leather fibers (SLFs) was chosen in this paper to producea seriesof thermosetting resins (epoxy, EP) and thermoplastic resins (polypropylene, PP)polymer composites by means of mechanical blending method. Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry(DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal gravimetric analysis(TGA), universal tensile testing machine, Izod impact testing machine were usedto study and characterize the polymer composites microstructure, curingbehavior, curing kinetics, crystallization behavior, crystallization kinetics, thermal stability and mechanical properties. The following conclusions wereabtained by the study of the relationship between microstructure andmacroscopic properties of composites:1. EP/OMMTs/SLFs Composites1) The addition of organic montmorillonites (OMMTs) and SLFs canpromote the curing reaction of epoxy resin.2) The macroscopic properties of EP/OMMTs/SLFs composites stronglydepend on the amount of filler, the composition, the dispersion and so on.3) According to Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method, with the growth of conversionrates, the activation energy of EP first increased and then reduced.4) with SLFs content increasing, the crosslinking density and glasstransition temperature of EP/OMMTs/SLFs composites decreases, and theimpact strengths increases, which indicates SLFs can toughen EP.2.PP/SLFs Composites1) A chemical reaction was existed between the PE-g-MAH and SLFs,which is conducive to SLFs dispersed in PP matrix. Meanwhile it improved themechanical properties of SLFs/PP/PE-g-MAH composites.2) the mechanical properties of the composites was related to the amount ofSLFs and the SLFs dispersed state in the PP matrix.3) SLFs in PP vision system can be used as nucleating agent to promotecrystallization of PP.