Abstract
In order to overcome the challenge of synchronously strengthening and toughening polypropylene (PP) with a low-cost and environmental technology, CaCO3 (CC) nanoparticles are modified by tartaric acid (TA), a kind of food-grade complexing agent, and used as nanofillers for the first time. The evaluation of mechanical performance showed that, with 20 wt.% TA-modified CC (TAMCC), the impact toughness and tensile strength of TAMCC/PP were 120% and 14% more than those of neat PP, respectively. Even with 50 wt.% TAMCC, the impact toughness and tensile strength of TAMCC/PP were still superior to those of neat PP, which is attributable to the improved compatibility and dispersion of TAMCC in a PP matrix, and the better fluidity of TAMCC/PP nanocomposite. The strengthening and toughening mechanism of TAMCC for PP involves interfacial debonding between nanofillers and PP, and the decreased crystallinity of PP, but without the formation of β-PP. This article presents a new applicable method to modify CC inorganic fillers with a green modifier and promote their dispersion in PP. The obtained PP nanocomposite simultaneously achieved enhanced mechanical strength and impact toughness even with high content of nanofillers, highlighting bright perspective in high-performance, economical, and eco-friendly polymer-inorganic nanocomposites.
Highlights
Polypropylene (PP), a thermoplastic polymerized by propylene monomer, has been widely used in automobiles, appliances, packaging, and other fields [1,2], because of its good chemical resistance, satisfactory heat resistance, electrical insulation, high mechanical strength and wear resistance, etc
The tartaric acid (TA) was firstly neutralized using sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and the neutralized TA solution was mixed with CC
The tensile, flexural, and impact strengths were completely evaluated, and the results showed that enhanced strength and toughness were simultaneously achieved in the obtained nanocomposites (TAMCC/PP)
Summary
Polypropylene (PP), a thermoplastic polymerized by propylene monomer, has been widely used in automobiles, appliances, packaging, and other fields [1,2], because of its good chemical resistance, satisfactory heat resistance, electrical insulation, high mechanical strength and wear resistance, etc. The reported works have almost suggested that, the addition of various CaCO3 nanofillers could contribute to the improvement in impact toughness, it caused the loss of mechanical strength [8,18]. Our previous work has shown that organic modifiers with complexation ability can improve the fluidity of inorganic nanoparticles and their interfacial bonding with a polymer matrix, and are helpful for enhancing the mechanical performance of PP [22,23]. CaCO3 nanoparticles (CC) were modified by tartaric acid (TA), a kind of foodgrade complexing agent, and used to enhance the mechanical performance of PP. Based on the characteristics of micromorphology, melting behavior, and crystal structure, the toughening and strengthening mechanisms of the nanocomposite were toughness and mechanical strength of the nanocomposite were superior to those of PP even with the high addition TAMCC (50 wt.%).
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