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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #297957
Title: Properties of dried distillers grains with solubles, Paulownia wood, and pine wood reinforced high density polyethylene composites: Effect of maleation, chemical modification, and the mixing of fillers

Author
item Tisserat, Brent
item REIFSCHNEIDER, LOUIS - Illinois State University
item GREWELL, DAVID - Iowa State University
item SRINIVASAN, GOWRISHANKER - Iowa State University
item Harry O Kuru, Rogers

Submitted to: CRC Press
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/3/2013
Publication Date: 11/10/2014
Citation: Tisserat, B., Reifschneider, L., Grewell, D., Srinivasan, G., Harry O'Kuru, R. 2014. Properties of dried distillers grains with solubles, Paulownia wood, and pine wood reinforced high density polyethylene composites: Effect of maleation, chemical modification, and the mixing of fillers. In: Thakur, V.K., Kessler, M.R., editors. Green Biorenewable Biocomposites: From Knowledge to Industrial Applications. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. p. 387-425.

Interpretive Summary: There is a great need to identify usable low cost lignocellulosic materials that can be blended with thermoplastic resins in order to produced bio-composites comparable to available commercial wood plastic composites currently on the market. This study addresses this issue by employing dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS) and Paulownia wood (PW) flour in high density polyethylene (HDPE)-composites. These materials were selected because of their low cost and abundance. The mechanical properties of these composites were compared to neat HDPE and commercial pine wood composites to evaluate their usability. To improve these materials, chemical modification was conducted utilizing acetylation/maleation. To further lower costs and improve mechanical performance, composite-DDGS/Pine wood mixture blends were also evaluated. Both of the lignocellulosic materials exhibited high mechanical and physical performances compared to currently employ neat HDPE and pine wood bio-composites suggesting strongly in their commercialization.

Technical Abstract: There is a need to identify usable lignocellulosic materials that can be blended with thermoplastic resins to produced commercial lignocellulosic plastic composites (LPC) at lower costs with improved performance. The core objectives of this study are to: 1) evaluate the use of dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS) and Paulownia wood (PW) flour in high density polyethylene-composites (LPC), 2) assess the benefit of chemically modifying DDGS and PW flour through chemical extraction and modification (acetylation/maleation) and 3) to evaluate the benefit of mixing DDGS with Pine wood (PINEW) in a hybrid LPC. Injection molded test specimens were evaluated for their tensile, flexural, impact, environmental durability (soaking responses), and thermal properties. All mechanical results from composites are compared to neat high density polyethylene (HDPE) to determine their relative merits and drawbacks. HDPE composites composed of various percentage weights of fillers and either 0% or 5% by weight of maleated polyethylene (MAPE) were produced by twin screw compounding and injection molding. Chemical modification by acetylation and maleation of DDGS and PW fillers prior to compounding was done to evaluate their potential in making an improved lignocellulosic material. Composite-DDGS/PINEW mixture blends composed of a majority of PINEW were superior to composites containing DDGS only. Composites containing MAPE had significantly improved tensile and flexural moduli compared to neat HDPE. Impact strength of all composites were significantly lower than neat HDPE. Chemical modification substantially improved the tensile, flexural, water absorbance, and thermal properties of the resultant composites compared to untreated composites. Differential scanning calorimetery and thermogravimetric analysis were conducted on the HDPE composites to evaluate their thermal properties as this may indicate processing limitations with conventional plastics processing equipment due to the exposure of the bio-material to elevated temperatures. Finally, because exposure to the moisture in the environment can affect the physical and color properties of wood, changes in the size and color of test specimens after prolonged soaking were evaluated.