Physical Properties of Polypropylene Plastic Resins Composite with Natural Derived Cellulose Fibers

Recently, an eco-friendly industry that is carbon-neutral has become important, and active application of eco-friendly materials with increased biomass content is required for plastic products applied to automobiles. As eco-friendly materials for automobiles, plastic composites using natural fibers such as wood powder, kenyaf, and hemp as reinforcing materials are being applied as interior materials for automobiles such as door trims. However, wood powder or plant fiber combined in plastic resin as a reinforcing material for improving biomass content and improving plastic properties contains impurities such as sugar, pectin, and hemicellulose in addition to cellulose components, which may cause unique odor problems and durability degradation.<br/>This research attempted to apply regenerated cellulose fibers such as tencel and rayon, which are generally used in the textile industry, as a plastic resin reinforcement for automobiles. Since the regenerated cellulose fiber is a purified cellulose fiber in which impurities have been removed in a manufacturing process, it was determined that the application to a plastic composite is better than plant fibers such as wood powder, kenaf, and hemp. Therefore, in order to improve the biomass content of automotive plastic materials and the durable properties of plastic composites, mixing and composite properties with polypropylene resin were investigated using naturally derived regenerated cellulose fibers such as tencel and rayon. Tencel and rayon fibers are cellulose-based fibers and are hydrophilic, so their compatibility with industrial resins such as polypropylene is low. In this work, by silanizing and surface modification of the regenerated cellulose fiber to impart hydrophobic properties, compatibility with the polypropylene resin is improved and the physical properties of the composite are expected.