A influência das variáveis de processamento e de diferentes tipos de nanocargas nas propriedades dos compósitos de polipropileno

Abstract

In this work an evaluation of the thermal and mechanical properties of PP/PP-g-MA composites with 5 and 10 wt% of MMT-Na+, MMT-15A, MMT-30B, CaCO3 and CaCO3-AE nanofillers was performed. Composites were prepared in a co-rotating, double-screw extruder configured at L/D ratio 32 to specify three nanofillers of best performance. Thereafter PP/PP-g-MA composites with 10 wt% of MMT-Na +, MMT-15A and CaCO3 nanofillers at L/D ratio 46 were processed one and three times in order to evaluate the influence of processing on the mechanical, thermal, morphological, rheological and thermo- mechanical properties. For PP nanocomposites with nanofillers prepared at L/D ratio 32, results demonstrate that the addition of the compatibilizing agent PP-g-MA changes the mechanical properties, indicating that for these properties, the results obtained for the compatibilized PP composites are improved in relation to those obtained for the non-compatibilized samples. PP composites with MMT-Na+, MMT-15A and CaCO3 nanofillers prepared at L/D ratio 32 configuration had the most relevant results obtained for mechanical and thermal properties when these nanofillers were incorporated in the amount of 10% m/m to PP/PP-g-MA, so they were used in the analysis of the variation of the processing conditions. The effect of the screw configuration L/D ratio 46 and of nanofiller in PP/PP-g-MA composites was also studied. These composites were characterized by their mechanical, thermal, morphological, rheological and thermo-mechanical properties. Analysis of the mechanical properties of the composites processed at L/D 46 ratio one and three times showed to reduced values when compared to the composites processed at the configuration L/D 32 the figures being close to those of neat PP. These data reveals that by varying the L/D ratio configuration during processing the polymer matrix is degraded, as evidenced by rheology tests, a flow increase and reduction in complex viscosity being observed in the composites. TEM analyses have shown that 10 wt% MMT-15A clay incorporated to PP/PP-g-MA formed intercalated tactoids and exfoliated phase during processing at L/D ratio 32. Analysis of the properties discussed in this work indicated that MMT-15A clay has the best adhesion and dispersion in the polypropylene matrix.