Effect of the cellulose of Agave tequilana Weber onto the mechanical properties of foamed and unfoamed polypropylene composites

Morphology, mechanical properties and crystallinity of foamed and unfoamed composites polypropylene (PP) and cellulose from Agave tequilana were studied. The PP-cellulose composite with PP-g-MA as coupling agent was obtained using a twin-screw extruder. Foamed composite was obtained by blending the composite with a blowing agent and moulding by compression. The morphology of the foamed composite, observed by SEM, shows that the bubble diameters were smaller when cellulose content increased. Young's modulus and impact of foamed and unfoamed PP/PP-g-MA composites were higher than the pure PP matrix, and they increase with the cellulose content. An increment of the crystallization percent was observed with respect at XRD analysis. This indicates that the cellulose acts as a nucleation agent, favouring the crystallization in the composites.