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Effect of clay modification on structure–property relationships and thermal degradation kinetics of β-polypropylene/clay composite materials

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Abstract

The influence of neat and organically modified montmorillonite on the structure–property relationships of a β-nucleated polypropylene matrix has been thoroughly investigated. High-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy revealed that the organic modification of clay facilitated the dispersion of the clay, while X-ray diffractograms showed the α-nucleating effect of the clays on the β-nucleated matrix. The results from tensile tests showed that the organic modification of MMT affected profoundly only the tensile strength at yield and at break. The effect of the organic modification of the clay on the thermal stability of the composites was finally evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis, where the samples filled with oMMT decomposed faster than the ones filled with neat MMT, due to the decomposition of the organic salts that were initially used for the modification of MMT. A kinetics study of the thermal degradation of the composites was also performed, in order to export additional conclusions on the activation energy of the samples.

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Acknowledgements

This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund—ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)—Research Funding Program: Heracleitus II. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund. The authors appreciate financial support from the European Union under the Seventh Framework Program (Integrated Infrastructure Initiative No. 262348 European Soft Matter Infrastructure, ESMI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solid State Physics Section, Physics Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Dimitrios G. Papageorgiou, Eleni Pavlidou & Konstantinos Chrissafis

  2. EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020, Antwerp, Belgium

    Maria Filippousi & Gustaaf Van Tendeloo

  3. Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Technology, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Dimitrios Bikiaris

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  1. Dimitrios G. Papageorgiou
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  2. Maria Filippousi
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Correspondence to Dimitrios G. Papageorgiou, Konstantinos Chrissafis or Dimitrios Bikiaris.

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Papageorgiou, D.G., Filippousi, M., Pavlidou, E. et al. Effect of clay modification on structure–property relationships and thermal degradation kinetics of β-polypropylene/clay composite materials. J Therm Anal Calorim 122, 393–406 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-015-4705-y

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