Cellulosic fillers are renewable biobased materials with interesting applications in several domains, such as paper, packaging, paint and coatings, adhesives, tissue engineering. In view of sustainability, the coupling of biobased polymers and cellulosic fillers is of great interest. Particularly, microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) is emerging for the development of materials with remarkable mechanical and barrier properties, still maintaining the biodegradability of cellulose; their sensitivity to moisture is greatly reduced when they are mixed with polymeric matrices. In this work, we examine the properties of composites containing cellulose macrofibrils or microfibrils, and biobased matrices, derived from cardanol, a natural phenolic compound, extracted from cashew nutshells, a non-edible byproduct of the agri-food industry, or vegetable oils such as soybean oil. Thermally and photochemically crosslinked composites are prepared, and the advancement of the polymerization reactions is monitored by FTIR spectroscopy. The morphology, the thermal and mechanical properties (studied by dynamic scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis and UTS tensile test) and the insoluble content of the composites are characterized and discussed with respect to the main parameters influencing them, namely the polymer/cellulose ratio, the type of polymeric matrix, the crosslinking process. As an example, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of a cardanol based epoxy resin thermally crosslinked with a polyetherdiamine hardener was found to range from – 40 °C to – 30 °C depending on the epoxy: amine ratio and on the cellulose content. The same epoxy resin, combined with MFC and cationically photocrosslinked showed a Tg of approximately 0 °C. In addition, for composites obtained in the form of flexible films, the permeability to oxygen and water vapor is also discussed.

Composites with thermally or photochemically crosslinked biobased matrices and cellulosic fillers

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