Interrelationship between lignin-rich dichloromethane extracts of hot water-treated wood fibers and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) in wood plastic composite (WPC) production

Hot water extraction (HWE) partially removes hemicelluloses from wood while leaving the majority of the lignin and cellulose; however, the lignin partially migrates to the inner surfaces of the cell wall where it can be deposited as a layer that is sometimes visible as droplets. This lignin-rich material was isolated via Soxhlet extraction with dichloromethane to investigate its rheological behavior in blends with high-density polyethylene (HDPE), a common material in wood plastic composites (WPCs). Pyrolysis gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and electrospray ion mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) confirmed that the isolated material is constituted mainly of low-molecular-weight lignin oligomers. The blends of HDPE/isolated lignin, in varying ratios, were tested by means of dynamic rheology. A "shoulder" was found in plots "shear storage moduli (G′) vs. frequency sweep" and a shift of the terminal zone to lower frequencies was observed. Apparently, this shoulder is caused by the elastic contribution of the interfacial tension between the blend components. The rheology of WPCs produced from HWE wood and HDPE shows a similar shoulder in G′ plots, suggesting that the HDPE/lignin blends are in part responsible for the shape of the G′ curves.