Abstract

Effects of bamboo fiber (BF)-esterified with maleic anhydride (MA) (BF-e-MA) on the properties of BF-filled poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) bio-composites were investigated. Adding 5% BF-e-MA increased the tensile strength of the PBS/BF (70/30) composite from 21 MPa to 28 MPa in the presence of radical initiator (0.5%). Melt viscosity was also increased by adding BF-e-MA. The Avrami and Ozawa equations were used to analyze the isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics, respectively. At the same crystallization temperature, all composites showed lower values for the Avrami and Ozawa exponents than pure PBS. Furthermore, the values for the PBS/BF-e-MA composite were smaller than those for the PBS/BF composite. Equilibrium water-sorption amount (M _∞) were highest for the composite without BF-e-MA, followed by the composites with BF-e-MA and finally pure PBS. The diffusion coefficient (D) was smaller for the composites with BF-e-MA than without. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that interfacial adhesion between BF and PBS matrix was improved after addition of BF-e-MA.