Kinetics of thermo-oxidative degradation of polypropylene/aluminum trihydroxide/organo Fe-montmorillonite nanocomposites

Abstract

In the article, the thermal oxidative degradation kinetics of pure polypropylene/aluminum trihydroxide (PP/ATH) and PP/ATH/organo Fe-montmorillonite (Fe-OMT) nanocomposites were investigated using Kissinger, Friedman and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa methods. The results showed that thermal oxidative degradation of PP/ATH/Fe-OMT nanocomposites to PP/ATH were complex reaction: the whole process of thermal oxidative degradation were composed with the decomposition of ATH, the cracking and charring of the backbone chains of PP, and the oxidative degradation of char, which the curses of energy mutative with the process of thermal oxidative degradation. The control steps were different in each degradation stage. The activation energy was high in the original degradation stage. It was due to the molecular structure and may closely relate with onset temperature. In the intermediate process, the activation energy was low. In the last stage of the degradation, the activation energy was graveled because the carbon may be oxidized. In the whole process of thermal oxidative degradation, the activation energy of PP/ATH/Fe-OMT nanocomposite was higher than that of PP/ATH.