WOOD-POLYMER NANO-MODIFIED POLYVINYLCHLORIDE COMPOSITE BUILDING MATERIALS

Subject: questions of nano-modification of polyvinylchloride (PVC) composites filled with wood flour (WF) are considered. The wood-filled polyvinylchloride composites developed to date possess high operational parameters but have a significant technological disadvantage (high viscosity of melts), which limits their processing and use. To increase the compatibility of polyvinylchloride and wood flour, experimental studies were conducted on the use of small doses of carbon nanotubes as effective binding agents. Research objectives: investigation of the structure and properties of highly filled nano-modified polyvinylchloride composites. Materials and methods: basic wood-filled polyvinylchloride composites are considered for production of molding profiles, in which single-walled carbon nanotubes in various dispersion media were used as modifiers. We used standard physical and mechanical methods for polymer material properties estimation, as well as a set of methods for analyzing the structure of materials, in particular optical and electronic microscopy. Results: the ranges of optimal concentrations of carbon nanotubes in the composites are determined experimentally, depending on the degree of filling with the wood flour, type and nature of carbon nanotube carrier medium, as well as the method of mixing the components in the process of molding the products by the developed prescriptions. Conclusions: experiments have confirmed technical effectiveness of using nanotubes as additives that enhance the adhesion interaction at the boundary of the polymer with the wood flour. The obtained functional dependencies can be the basis for practical realization of production of molding profiles by extrusion method.