Thermal Properties and Thermal Degradation Kinetics of Polypropylene/ Organomodified Ni-Al Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH) Nanocomposites Prepared by Melt Intercalation Technique

Abstract

The objective of this work is to investigate the influence of LDH loading on the thermal stability and thermal degradation kinetics of the PP/Ni-Al LDH nanocomposites using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and to compare the results with that of the neat PP. For this, Ni-Al LDH was first prepared by co-precipitation method at constant pH using their nitrate salts and subsequently organically modified using sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) by regeneration method. A series of novel PP/Ni-Al LDH nanocomposites was then prepared with various amounts of LDH by melt intercalation method. The XRD results confirm the formation of exfoliated PP/LDH nanocomposites. PP/LDH nanocomposites exhibit enhanced thermal stability relative to the neat PP due to the presence of barrier effect of LDH lamellar layers and the thermal stability of the nanocomposites also increases with increase in the LDH loading. When 10% weight loss is selected as a point of comparison, the decomposition temperature of PP/LDH (5 wt %) nanocomposite is 15 oC higher than that of neat PP. The thermal degradation activation energy of the nanocomposites is determined via Coats-Redfern method and compared with that of neat PP. The improvement of thermal stability of PP nanocomposites is also confirmed by increasing the activation energies (Ea) and the integral procedural decomposition temperature (IPDT) compared with neat PP. Criado method is finally used to determine the degradation reaction mechanism of various samples.