Thermal and Flammability Properties of Polypropylene Filled Rice Bran/Sepiolite Composite

Abstract

Polypropylene that consist of different loading of rice bran (RB) (0wt%, 10wt%, 20wt%, 30wt%, 40wt%) and sepiolite (SEP) (0phr, 1phr, 2phr, 3phr, 4phr, 5phr) were prepared by twin-screw extruder followed by compression moulding. The effect of RB and SEP loading on the thermal properties and flammability properties were studied through thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and UL94 horizontal burning test (UL94HB) respectively. The result from TGA revealed that RB content at 40%wt and SEP content at 4phr showed good thermal stability. The sepiolite used for flammability properties had improved the flammability matrix; however, the amount of SEP use in this study is not enough to improve the flammability of PP/RB composite.