Mechanical, flow, and morphological properties of talc‐ and kaolin‐filled polypropylene hybrid composites

Abstract

Polypropylene (PP) hybrid composites have been produced by compounding two types of mineral fillers, viz., talc and kaolin with PP copolymer using a twin screw extruder. The PP hybrid composite was injection‐molded into dumbbell specimen for tensile, flexural, and impact properties characterizations. MFI and SEM studies were used to characterize the flow and morphological properties of the PP hybrid composites. The result shows that most of the hybrid composites showed a significant decrease in flow, tensile, flexural, and impact properties compared with the single filler‐filled PP composites. However, a hybridization effect was seen for the PPT20K10 hybrid composites, through the synergistic coalescence of positive characteristics from 20 wt % of talc and 10 wt % of kaolin. This hybrid formulation have given an economically advantageous material with the mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, and impact) comparable to those of the talc‐filled PP composites. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 434–441, 2007

Synthetic silico-metallic mineral particles (SSMMP) as nanofillers: comparing the effect of different hydrothermal treatments on the PU/SSMMP nanocomposites properties

“…With the filler content augmentation, the materials became more fragile, probably by the increase of the crosslinks formed between the nanoparticles and the polymer matrix through hydrogen bonding. The material with 5 wt% of filler probably presents agglomeration of the filler, which was responsible for the deleterious effect on polymer reinforcement confirmed in many studies [21,25,26]. The sample with 5 wt% of SSMMP 24 h was extremely fragile being impossible to evaluate the mechanical properties.…”

“…11f (PU/SSMMP 7 h 5 wt% nanocomposite), it is possible to see agglomeration points. These points can be considered as weak points in the material contributing to the formation of imperfections in the matrix [16] and acting as stress concentration points or weak points, reducing the mechanical properties [25] as evidenced in our results. The fracture surface was very smooth near the agglomeration point, but at some distance away from this point, the fracture surface of the nanocomposite presented a large number of dimples probably resulting from the stress concentration caused by the agglomerated particles [22].…”

“…Especially, there are many researches on the effect of talc on the mechanical properties, thermostability, crystallizability and rheology of polypropylene/talc composites [8,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Yousfi et al reported the use of new synthetic talc as nanofiller reinforcement for polypropylene and polyamide 6 systems [8] and polypropylene/polyamide 6 blends [27], and our group noticed the use of new synthetic talc-Ni as filler to produce polyurethane nanocomposites [28].…”

Talc as Reinforcing Filler in Polypropylene Compounds: Effect on Morphology and Mechanical Properties

“…The addition of fillers into PP matrix has been an accepted route to achieve enhancement in material properties or/and cost saving possibilities. Talc, a plate-like layered structure magnesium silicate mineral, in which the octahedral brucite layer is sandwiched between two tetrahedral silica sheets, has proved to be particularly efficient filler on the mechanical properties and macromolecular orientation of compounds [2][3][4][5][6] and consequently an increase of the performance of reinforced polymeric matrix. At low concentrations (less than 3 weight%), talc acts as a nucleating agent, reducing spherulite size and shortening processing time [7].…”

Estimation of tensile strength of inorganic plate‐like particulate reinforced polymer composites

“…Inorganic particulate‐filled polymer composites are one of the major modification methods for polymer materials to improve various physical and mechanical properties of the materials, such as tensile strength and modulus, rigidity, and heat resistance. Inorganic plate‐like particles such as talc [1, 2], mica [3–6], and kaolin have been paid extensively attention in polymeric industry because they have reinforcing function to polymer materials due to their geometry shape. The mechanical properties as well as reinforcing and toughening effects of the inorganic plate‐like filler reinforced polymer composites have been extensively studied in the past two decades.…”