Influence of biowaste additive and treated short woven flax fibers on the flame retardancy and mechanical properties of PP composites

2021 ◽  
Vol 174 ◽  
pp. 114176
Author(s):  
Thanh Mai Nguyen Tran ◽  
M.N. Prabhakar ◽  
Jung-il Song
Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nerea Pérez ◽  
Xiao-Lin Qi ◽  
Shibin Nie ◽  
Pablo Acuña ◽  
Ming-Jun Chen ◽  
...  

Polypropylene (PP) is currently widely used in areas requiring lightweight materials because of its low density. Due to the intrinsic flammability, the application of PP is restricted in many conditions. Aluminum trihydroxide (ATH) is reported as a practical flame retardant for PP, but the addition of ATH often diminishes the lightweight advantage of PP. Therefore, in this work, glass bubbles (GB) and octacedylamine-modified zirconium phosphate (mZrP) are introduced into the PP/ATH composite in order to lower the material density and simultaneously maintain/enhance the flame retardancy. A series of PP composites have been prepared to explore the formulation which can endow the composite with balanced flame retardancy, good mechanical properties, and low density. The morphology, thermal stability, flame retardancy, and mechanical properties of the composites were characterized. The results indicated the addition of GB could reduce the density, but decreased the flame retardancy of PP composites at the same time. To overcome this defect, ATH and mZrP with synergetic effect of flame retardancy were added into the composite. The dosage of each additive was optimized for achieving a balance of flame retardancy, good mechanical properties, and density. With 47 wt % ATH, 10 wt % GB, and 3 wt % mZrP, the peak heat release rate (pHRR) and total smoke production (TSP) of the composite PP-4 were reduced by 91% and 78%, respectively. At the same time, increased impact strength was achieved compared with neat PP and the composite with ATH only. Maintaining the flame retardancy and mechanical properties, the density of composite PP-4 (1.27 g·cm−3) is lower than that with ATH only (PP-1, 1.46 g·cm−3). Through this research, we hope to provide an efficient approach to designing flame retardant polypropylene (PP) composites with low density.


2011 ◽  
Vol 410 ◽  
pp. 47-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wichuda Chanprapanon ◽  
Nitinat Suppakarn ◽  
Kasama Jarukumjorn

Composites based on polypropylene (PP) and sisal fiber (SF) were prepared by melt blending. Sisal fiber content was 30 phr. Organoclay (OMMT; Cloisite®30B) (1-7 phr) was incorporated into the composites. In addition, maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) was used as a compatibilizer to enhance the interfacial adhesion between PP matrix and sisal fiber and also to improve the dispersion of the organoclay in PP matrix. The addition of OMMT had insignificantly affected mechanical properties of SF/PP composites. However, flame retardancy and thermal stability of SF/PP composites were improved dramatically with the presence of OMMT.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 263498332110074
Author(s):  
Henry C Obasi ◽  
Uchechi C Mark ◽  
Udochukwu Mark

Conventional inorganic fillers are widely used as fillers for polymer-based composites. Though, their processing difficulties and cost have demanded the quest for credible alternatives of organic origin like coconut shell fillers. Dried shells of coconut were burnt, ground, and sifted to sizes of 63, 150, 300, and 425 µm. The ground coconut shell particles (CSP) were used as a filler to prepare polypropylene (PP) composites at filler contents of 0% to 40% via injection melt blending process to produce PP composite sheets. The effect of the filler particle size on the mechanical properties was investigated. The decrease in the size of filler (CSP) was found to improve the yield strength, tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and hardness of PP by 8.5 MPa, 15.75 MPa, 1.72 GPa, 7.5 MPa, 100 MPa, and 10.5 HR for 63 µm at 40%, respectively. However, the elongation at break and modulus of resilience of the PP composites were seen to increase with increase in the filler size. Scanning electron microscope analysis showed that fillers with 63 µm particle size had the best distribution and interaction with the PP matrix resulting in enhanced properties.


2021 ◽  
pp. 009524432110290
Author(s):  
Mukaddes Sevval Cetin ◽  
Ozan Toprakci ◽  
Omer Suat Taskin ◽  
Abdullah Aksu ◽  
Hatice Aylin Karahan Toprakci

This study focuses on the fabrication and characterization of vermiculite-filled flexible polymer composites. Exfoliated vermiculite was incorporated into triblock thermoplastic elastomer copolymer, styrene- b-(ethylene- co-butylene)- b-styrene (SEBS), at various levels from 1 to 15 wt% by a high shear mixer. The composite films were obtained by the combination of solvent casting and compression molding. The morphological, structural, thermal, and mechanical properties and contact angle of the composites were determined. Some micro-morphological differences were observed between the samples and the difference was assumed to be caused by high shear mixing and filler concentration. High shear mixing was found effective in terms of the detachment of vermiculite layers at all concentrations. However, at low filler loading, that behavior was more obvious. At 1 wt% filler concentration, mechanical properties increased that was probably caused by good filler-matrix interaction stemmed from smaller particle size. At higher vermiculite concentrations, fillers found to show agglomerations that led to a decrease in mechanical strength and strain at break. Elastic and secant modulus showed an increasing trend. Contact angle measurements were carried out to determine the oleophilic character of the samples. An increase in the vermiculite content resulted in higher oleophilic character and the lowest contact angle was obtained at 15 wt% VMT loading. In addition to these, thermal stability, thermal dimensional stability and flame retardancy were improved by the incorporation of VMT. 15 wt% vermiculite-filled sample showed the best performance in terms of thermal stability and flame retardancy.


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