Thermal Properties of Olive Pomace Filled Linear Low Density Polyethylene Bio-Composites

Abstract

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) were performed to evaluate the influence of olive pomace flour (OPF) and a coupling agent (C) on linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) bio-composites. The glass transition temperature (Tg ), melting temperature (Tm ), enthalpy of fusion (ΔHm ), crystallization temperature (Tcryst .), heat of crystallization (ΔHcryst ,) and percent crystallinity (Xc ) were extracted from the DSC results. The degradation behavior was extracted from the TGA. Tg value (–114 °C) was unaffected by the addition of both OPF and C. A sharp DSC Tm peak, around 125 °C, was observed with its position being dependent on both filler and C contents. The ΔHm for the filler at 40% content decreased slightly, from 132 J/g for 0% filler to 123 J/g. TGA showed that the thermal degradation of LLDPE in the composite became easier upon increasing the OPF filler and coupling agent.