Thermal behavior and kinetic study of plasticized cellulose acetate magnesium hydroxide Polypropylene materials

Abstract

The thermal stability of polypropylene (PP) materials containing the PP -grafted -maleic -anhydride (PPMA), plasticized cellulose acetate (CA*) and magnesium hydroxide (MH), was investigated. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) conducted under air conditions revealed distinct degradation patterns when CA*, MH or MH/CA* were added to PP*. The addition of MH to PP*/CA* improved the thermal stability by shifting the maximum rate of mass loss to a higher temperature. But the MH addition could not counterbalance the lower temperature for the onset of degrada- tion when CA* was blended with PP*. The improved thermal stability of PP*/CA* when MH was added is supported by the higher activation energy (E a ) of the MH/CA*/PP materials. This study also presents a numerical integration method that is recommended to improve the accuracy of E a estimates from TGA data at multiple heating rates. The results indicate that the combined use of MH and CA* leads to materials with the highest thermal stability.