EFFECTS OF WASTE POLYETHYLENE ON THE PROPERTIES OF BAMBOO/POLYPROPYLENE CARBONATE COMPOSITES
Bamboo-plastic composites were made by bamboo fibers (BF), polypropylene carbonate (PPC) and waste polyethylene (PE), modified with 3-iodo-2-propargyl butyl carbamate/didecyldimethyl ammonium chloride (IPBC/DDAC) as fungicides and UV1130 as ultraviolet absorbent to prolong their service life for outdoor application, in which 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% of PPC were replaced by waste PE, respectively to reduce their cost. The modified composites were characterized and analyzed by mechanical properties test, surface color difference analysis, and mold resistance test. The results showed that the tensile strength, bending strength and impact strength of BF/PPC/waste PE composites would decrease as the waste PE content increased, and only when the waste PE content was not higher than 20%, the mechanical properties could meet the application requirements for indoors and outdoors. The introduction of IPBC/DDAC and UV1130 could take positive effects on the mechanical properties, surface color stability and mold resistance of BF/PPC composites, while the tensile strength, bending strength and impact strength of BF/PPC/PE composites were 2.36%, 1.85%, and 1.67% lower than the modified BF/PPC composites, as well as the values of ∆L*, ∆a*, and ∆b* of the composites were lower , and the value of ∆E was higher than the BF/PPC modified composites after three months of outdoor exposure. The efficacy levels of the modified BF/PPC and BF/PPC/waste PE composites could be increased to 98.8% and 56.75%, respectively, due to the excellent mold resistance of the combined antifungal agents of IPBC/DDAC