A novel biocomposite based on lignocellulose modified with epoxidized soybean oil resin

Wood is one of the high‐quality biomass raw materials due to its excellent performance. However, wood cannot be directly processed plastically because of its rigidity, limiting the utilization of its high added value. This study was conducted to develop a novel biocomposite based on the flexible delignified wood (FDW) modified with epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) resin. FDW, as wood template, was obtained by delignification of plantation poplar slices with poor quality, and then impregnated with the ESO pre‐polymerized solution formed by the reaction of ESO with citric acid (CA). Finally, the impregnated FDWs were heated and cured to get the novel lignocellulosic composite (ESOCA/FDW). The effects of ESOCA prepolymer on the morphology, chemical composition, and physical properties of lignocellulosic composites were studied by testing and characterization. The results showed that ESOCA/FDW‐0.6 had the best performance. Its instantaneous contact angle reached 98.87° and was still about 93.52° at 60 s. The maximum pyrolysis temperature was 395°C. Therefore, ESOCA/FDW is a novel and fully bio‐based transparency composite with flexibility, hydrophobicity and thermal stability. It can be directly utilized in packaging, medical, and other fields, or be further developed as a flexible substrate, which makes ESOCA/FDW have a broad application prospect.