Contributions to the modification of lignocellulosics by epoxidation and esterification

Natural polymers are characterized by three main properties: multifunctionality, biodegradability and biocompatibility, which are essential for various applications that should comply with the environment. Due to the hugeavailability of the phytomass sources resulted from photosynthesis, there are several possibilities to achieve some complex composite systems based on the utilization of natural/synthetic polymer mixtures. On the other hand, it is known that hydrophilic lignocellulosic materials and hydrophobic synthetic polymers are incompatible. The compatibility between the two kinds of polymers could be achieved by modification of either the hydrophilic natural polymer or of the synthetic one. The paper discusses the results on the modification of hardwood flour chemicals by reactions with epichlorohydrin and steroyl chloride, for the introduction of modified flour into the composite materials. The modified products were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, thermodifferential ana...