Highly toughened PP/Rice husk charcoal composites modified EPDM Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) with glycidyl methacrylate

Abstract In this article, a strategy is proposed to prepare highly toughened composites from polypropylene (PP), rice husk charcoal (RHC) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)-modified EPDM using melt blending and hot pressing. The structure of GMA-modified EPDM is confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The influences of the amounts of EPDM and GMA-modified EPDM on PP composites are investigated by virtue of mechanical properties testing, dimensional stability analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that the incorporation of GMA-modified EPDM significantly improves the toughness of PP composites and compared to PRHC the impact strength of PRKEG10 is up to the value of 537J/m and increased by 555%, concurrently the tensile strength and modulus exhibit less decrease with the value of 8.22MPa and 353MPa, respectively. Shrinkage measurements shows the dimensional change rates of length, width, and height decrease from 3.2%, 2.9%, and 3.3% to 1.73%, 1.46%, and 1.93%, respectively, improving the dimensional stability of PP composites. SEM reveals that shear yield and cavitation during the loading process leads to the excellent toughness of PP composites. This strategy provides a novel route to fabricate high ductility rice husk charcoal-based PP composites and expand certain industrial application.