Polyvinyl chloride composites filled with olive stone flour: Mechanical, thermal, and water absorption properties

Abstract

The production of olive oil leads to considerable amounts of solid waste mainly composed of hard woody endocarp called olive stones. The aim of this work is to explore the possible use of ground olive stones as fillers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), to elaborate a cost‐effective composite material with a solid loading of up to 50 wt %. After grinding, the ensuing olive stone flour (OSF) was incorporated into a PVC matrix via melt compounding and injection molding to elaborate PVC‐OSF‐based composites with a filler content up to 50 wt %. The evolution of the mechanical performance, the impact property, the water absorbance, and wear resistance behavior, according to the OSF content, were investigated. The addition of OSF was shown to enhance the stiffness of the matrix, but at the expense of its mechanical strength. However, the strength of the composite did not fall as low as 30 MPa, and therefore, meets the requirements for many applications in plastic‐based materials. The thermal properties of the ensuing composites were also studied by thermogravimetric analysis. The results show that the addition of OSF may be effective in increasing the stiffness of the PVC‐based composite and in reducing the solid residue in the olive oil industry production. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 41083.

Polypropylene composites based on lignocellulosic fillers: How the filler morphology affects the composite properties

“…It was found that the Young's modulus of the composite materials that incorporated a 5% MAPP, increased steadily with the percentage of reinforcement, this was the expected behavior, considering good fiber dispersion inside the matrix. A similar behavior was reported for ONF reinforced Polyvinyl Chloride composites [15]. On the other hand, the uncoupled composites showed a linear increase of the Young's modulus up to 40% fiber contents, then the value levelled or even fell down.…”

“…However, WF imparted improvements in the impact strengths while OSF contributed to lower this property. The diminution on the impact properties was also observed in the case of ONF reinforced Polyvinyl Chloride [15]. Here again, the difference in the filler's morphology is on the origin of the disparity in the impact strength.…”

“…Given the chemical composition of this residue, mainly lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose, different strategies have been developed for its exploitation, being the most common its incineration for energy generation [11]. Nonetheless, alternative uses of agricultural wastes, such as their exploitation as a sustainable reinforcement for composites, are regarded as potentially important within the field of materials technology [12][13][14][15]. In fact, polypropylene (PP) ground olive stone residue (OSF) reinforced composite are expected to show high stiffness values, due to the high hardness of the olive stones.…”

Manufacturing and Characterization of Green Composites with Partially Biobased Epoxy Resin and Flaxseed Flour Wastes

“…These voids allow the accumulation of water at the interface between the particle and the matrix thus increasing the absorption capacity of the composites [78]. In addition, the increased contact between FF particles as their size and content in the matrix increases contributes to water absorption by capillarity due to the creation of a percolating path through the filler network [79]. It should be noted that the water absorption of FF waste is lower than that obtained from other agroforestry waste that has been used in similar amounts as reinforcements in thermosetting polymeric matrices, such as peanut shells [63] or palm kernel shell [80].…”

Mechanical, morphological, and thermal properties of poly(vinyl chloride)/low‐density polyethylene composites filled with date palm leaf fiber

“…PVC is a polymer with low thermal stability, so easily degradable by dehydrochlorination around 100°C as a result of the formation of conjugated double bonds and polyene sequences . Naghmouchi et al studied PVC filled with olive stone flour . Blending polymers is an effective way to prepare new polymeric materials with better properties than virgin polymers .…”