Assessment of Morphological, Physical, Thermal, and Thermal Conductivity Properties of Polypropylene/Lignosulfonate Blends

Abstract

Lignosulfonate is a cheap material available in large quantities obtained as a byproduct of paper and cellulose. In this work, blends of polypropylene (PP) and sodium lignosulfonate (LGNa) were developed to evaluate the potential use of lignosulfonate as a lightweight, thermal insulation and flame retardant material. The blends were obtained by mixing in a torque rheometer and molded after compression. The blend proprieties were evaluated by physical, morphological, thermal, thermal conductivity, and flammability tests. The measured values were compared with theoretical models. The results indicated that a heterogeneous blend with a higher number of separated domains is formed when the LGNa content increases from 10 to 40 wt%. In addition, the density and thermal conductivity coefficient of the blends studied are not affected by the addition of LGNa. However, when the LGNa content in the blend exceeds 20 wt% the thermal stability and flame retardant proprieties are considerably reduced. The theoretical models based on the rule of mixtures showed a good agreement with the experimental values obtained from blend density, thermal conductivity, and thermal stability. In general, lignosulfonate tested in this work shows potential to be used as a reactive component in polymer blends.

Efficient Removal of Methylene Blue by Bio-Based Sodium Alginate/Lignin Composite Hydrogel Beads

“…The TG curves of SA, Lig, and SA/Lig-20% beads are shown in Figure 3. Lig shows the highest thermal stability with three degradation steps: The weight loss occurred below 150 • C owing to the loss of the absorbed water; the obvious degradation process at approximately 250 to 400 • C can be associated with the decomposition of oxygen-containing groups and cleaving of C-C bonds; and the last weight loss after 400 • C might be attributed to the degradation of the aromatic structure [20][21][22]. For the TG curves of SA, the weight loss of absorbed water is approximately 8% before 120 • C. In the second stage, the weight loss of approximately 6% between 150 and 230 • C can be ascribed to the decarboxylation of SA.…”

Recent progress in sulfur-containing technical lignin-based polymer composites

“…Polypropylene Flame retardant, antioxidant, improvement of mechanical properties [170][171][172][173] PVA Lowering of melting point, improvement of mechanical properties, antioxidant [174][175][176]205] PANI Dopant, adsorbent [177][178][179][180][181] Polypyrrole Dopant, adsorbent [182,183] PEDOT Dopant [184,185] PLA UV protection, antioxidant, improvement of mechanical properties [160,[186][187][188][189] Chitosan Adsorbent, antimicrobial, improvement of mechanical properties, antioxidant, antibiofilm [190][191][192][193][194][195][196][197][198][199][200][201] Szabó et al [203] used different polymer matrices to understand which polymer is best suited for uniform dispersion of lignosulfonates without any chemical modification or incorporation of a coupling agent. They used polypropylene and aromatic polymers such as polystyrene, polycarbonate and glycol-modified poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET).…”

Investigation of the Orientational Mechanical Properties of Biodegradable Extrusion Films Based on Polyolefins and Beet Pulp

“…Filling polymers with vegetable fillers such as wood flour, straw, husk of cereal crops reduces the cost of polymer compositions and can significantly reduce the environmental burden after their use, which is especially important for disposable packaging materials [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Recently, there have appeared a lot of studies , which describe the compositions of biodegradable composites based on thermoplastic polymers and natural fillers such as starch, cellulose, rice husks, wood flour, and cereal straw.…”

“…Therefore, the development of compositions of biodegradable polymeric materials as well as the development of their production technological processes are currently the priority tasks [24]. The effect of biodegradability can be achieved by introducing vegetable fillers into synthetic thermoplastics [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. In the Russian Federation, the main by-product of sugar beet production is beet pulp.…”

“…Studies [11][12][13][14][15] show the use of polyolefins, wood and flax flour to obtain biodegradable compositions. Malaysian scientists [16][17][18][19] studied the biocomposites based on various binders with plant waste from sugar palm.…”