Nucleation ability of advanced functional silica/lignin hybrid fillers in polypropylene composites

Sławomir Borysiak,Łukasz Klapiszewski,Teofil Jesionowski,Karol Bula

doi:10.1007/s10973-016-5390-1

Sławomir Borysiak, Łukasz Klapiszewski + Show 2 more

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-016-5390-1

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Abstract

Novel advanced functional silica/lignin hybrid fillers were synthesized for the purpose of their application in composites with polypropylene. The use of lignin for the production of hybrid fillers is justified due to the advantages such as reduction in cost of products, improvement in biodegradability as well as antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The study encompasses an analysis of the dispersive and morphological properties of the hybrid fillers, and investigations of phase transitions and the supermolecular structure of the composites by means of differential scanning calorimetry, polarized light microscopy, and X-ray diffractometry. The nucleation activity of the hybrid fillers was found to be strongly correlated with the chemical composition of the fillers, and their dispersive properties and porous structure characteristics. Furthermore, the particle size and area surface of the hybrid fillers play an important role in the development of polymorphic varieties of the polypropylene matrix. The study also discusses the mechanism of the formation of the β-PP variety and the transcrystalline structure in the context of the nucleation ability of the hybrid fillers. The investigations are very significant because they address the impact of the actual physicochemical parameters of the hybrid fillers on the nucleation ability and structure of composite materials.

Highlights

In recent years, much attention has been focused on polymer composites based on inorganic filler [1,2,3] and lignin [4,5,6,7,8].Silica is well known and described as inorganic compound, which has high chemical resistance, hardness, and porosity
An increased content of silica in the SiO2/lignin hybrid filler contributes to increased ABET and Vp values, and a decreased average pore diameter (Sp)
The increase in thermal stability of the composites was observed for increasing mass content of silica in hybrid filler

Summary

Introduction

Much attention has been focused on polymer composites based on inorganic filler (including silica) [1,2,3] and lignin [4,5,6,7,8].Silica is well known and described as inorganic compound, which has high chemical resistance, hardness, and porosity. The incorporation of silica into polypropylene matrix is an attractive way to significant improvements in the properties of the composites, e.g., mechanical strength and elastic modulus, thermal stability, chemical resistance, heat and flame resistance, and reduction in gas permeability [9,10,11,12,13]. These properties led to the application of silica/polypropylene composites in various industrial fields, e.g., packaging, automotive, medical, and textile industries [14,15,16]. Lignin presents a good capacity to adsorb hazardous metal ions [24, 25] and is a source to prepare precursors for carbon-based materials, such as activated carbon or carbon fibers [26] and may be used as a starting material for hydrogel applications [27, 28]

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