High temperature and pressurized steaming/silane coupling co-modification for wood fibers and its effect on the properties of wood fiber/HDPE composites

Development of Eco-Efficient Composite from Textile Waste with Polyamide Matrix

The main aim of the present work is to evaluate and characterize the mechanical, morphological and thermal properties of wastes coming from the textile industry, mainly composed of cotton and polyester. These wastes will be thereafter implemented in commodity plastic such as polyamide, in order to develop new formulations of environmentally friendly materials. The composites were produced by extrusion and injection-molded processes in amounts between 15 wt.% and 60 wt.% of textile waste. With the objective of improving the properties of the materials, silanes were used as a compatibilizer between the textile fibers and the polymeric matrix. The effect of the compatibilizer in the composites was studied together with the effect of the amount of textile fiber added to the composites. Mechanical, thermal, morphological and wettability properties were analyzed for each composite. The results show that the use of silanes improves the interaction especially in those composites with a higher amount of textile waste, offering a balanced mechanical behavior with significantly high quantities. On the other hand, the melting temperature does not vary significantly with the introduction of silanes and textile waste content, although the incorporation of textile waste slightly reduces up to 23% the degradation temperature of the resulting composites. The wettability of the composites is also increased up to 16% with the incorporation of textile waste. Finally, the appearance of the composites with textile waste is strongly influenced by the incorporation of the reinforcement, offering shades close to dark brown in the whole range of compositions.

Transparent Wood-Based Materials: Current State-of-the-Art and Future Perspectives

Human history is largely characterized by the massive use of wood, the most well-known natural composite material, possessing unique thermal, mechanical, and environmental features that make it suitable for several applications, ranging from civil engineering, art, and household uses, to business uses (including furniture, stationery, shipbuilding, and fuel). Further, as a renewable and recyclable biomass, wood perfectly matches the current circular economy concept. However, because of its structure and composition, wood is not transparent: therefore, the possibility of removing the embedded lignin, hence limiting the light-scattering phenomena, has been investigated over the last ten to fifteen years, hence obtaining the so-called "transparent wood (TW)". This latter represents an up-to-date key material, as it can be utilized as obtained or further functionalized, combining the transparency with other features (such as flame retardance, energy storage ability, and environmental protection, among others), which widen the potential (and practical) applications of wood. The present manuscript aims at summarizing first the current methods employed for obtaining transparent wood, and then the latest achievements concerning the properties of transparent wood, providing the reader with some perspectives about its novel functionalizations and applications.