Abstract: Polyethylene wax grafted maleic anhydride (PEW-g-MAH) was applied to modify bamboo flour and the composites of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) filled with the modified bamboo flour were prepared. The effects of bamboo flour particle size and its dosage, grafting ratio of PEW-g-MAH and its dosage on the mechanical properties of PVC/PEW-g-MAH/bamboo flour composites were studied in detail by orthogonal-design experiments. Results show that the best condition for optimal mechanical property of PVC/PEW-g-MAH/bamboo flour composite is the following: grafting ratio of PEW-g-MAH 1.16% and its dosage 0.3g,particle size of bamboo flour 0.425mm and its dosage 30g. When modified bamboo flour was added, tensile strength and Charpy impact strength of the composite increased from respectively 28.6MPaand 3.05kJ/m² of the composite filled with equal amount of unmodified bamboo flour to 30.01MPa and 3.86kJ/m²respectively.

Key words: orthogonal-design, polyethylene wax grafted maleic anhydride, bamboo flour, polyvinyl chloride, mechanical properties