Abstract
A technique of chemical treatment combined with hot pressing is used to fabricate a high-performance structural material based on maize straw. The chemical structures and compositions of the densified maize straw are determined by ATR-FTIR, XRD, and TGA. The tensile strength and elongation at break of the densified straw can reach as high as 598.6MPa and 6.2%, which are approximately 9.3 times and 2.2 times higher than that of the natural straw, respectively. Furthermore, chemical treatment and hot pressing are essential steps for preparing the densified straw. The chemical treatment using a mixed alkali solution can remove the fractional lignin and hemicellulose but preserve most of the cellulose, thus enhancing the degree of crystallinity and the heating resistance of the densified straw. The SEM results prove that densification by hot pressing is committed to fabricating a structure material with high-performance from maize straw, which has eliminated the defects and reinforced the mechanical properties of the densified straw. At the molecular level, the hydrogen bonds between the aligned cellulose fibers have bridged the neighboring cellulose fibers, reinforcing the mechanical properties of the densified straw. After compositing the densified straw with a biodegradable poly (propylene carbonate), the mechanical properties of the composite are considerably improved, predicting a huge application prospect in automobile, construction, furniture, and even airplane fields.
A High-performance Structural Material Based on Maize Straw and Its Completely Biodegradable Composites of Poly (Propylene Carbonate)
