Thermal Behavior of Calcium Carbonate and Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Filled Polypropylene by Melt Compounding

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of Calcium Carbonate and Zinc Oxide nanoparticles on thermal behavior of virgin and waste polypropylene. CaCO3 nanoparticles at content of (3, 5, 7 and 10 wt. %) mixed with virgin and waste PP by using co-rotating twin screw extruder at 25 rpm and 190°C. Two techniques used to incorporate ZnO nanoparticles in waste PP in two steps: the first one ZnO nanoparticles mixed with acetone solvents by ultrasonic device and then using twin screw extruder to produce nanocomposite sheet. Fourier Transmitted Infraredspectroscopy (FTIR) test used to check the structure of polypropylene. X-Ray Diffraction is used to check the crystallinity of nanocomposite. Thermal conductivity of the modified composite was studies by using thermal coefficient meter model (YBF-3). The qualitative and quantitative temperatures distribution of the extruding polymer nanocomposite is tested by using FLIR thermal camera due to different melt flow rate. Strong relation between crystallinity, thermal conductivity and thermal gradient of nanocomposite is observed. The results show that an improvement in thermal conductivity for both virgin and waste PP with nanoparticles content increasing, thermal conductivity values of waste PP is higher than that of virgin PP and the effect of ZnO nanoparticles is higher than that of CaCO3naoparticles. The results of thermal image indicate that the uniform and smooth surface associate with Melt Flow Rate (MFR) at load 2.16 kg. The temperature gradient increases with MFR values decreasing for waste PP while decreasing for virgin PP.