engleski

Effect of gamma irradiation on mechanical properties and morphology of PP/talc composites

Despite polypropylene (PP) has become one of the largest and fastest growing polymeric material, some disadvantages in its properties have impeded its growth in commercial use. One of those is its poor stability to gamma(g)-irradiation. The popularity of g-irradiation use to sterilize PP and PP composites devices is increasing. Talc is by far the most widely used inorganic filler in PP. Its continued growth has been to a large degree due to efforts by the researchers to develop talc with more consistent properties. Therefore the purpose of our research work was to examine the role of untreated or surface treated talc with aminosilanes as well as the influence of g-irradiation on mechanical properties and morphology of PP and PP/talc composites. Polypropylene Novolen 1100 L (BASF), untreated talc Talk Naintsch A-20 (Luzenac) and with 2 % aminopropyl-trimethoxysilane surface treated talc Talk Naintsch A-20 V592 (Luzenac) were used in this study. PP/talc composites with talc ratio 4, 8, 12 and 16 vol.% were prepared by melt-mixing in a Brabender kneading chamber and were compression molded into plates on a laboratory press. Afterwards, the plates were cooled at room temperature and the specimens were cut from the plates. The specimens were subjected to 25 kGy &#947 ; -irradiation at ambient temperature in air using Co-60 panoramic radiation source. By tensile measurements, measurements of notched impact strength, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical microscopy (OM), wide angle X-ray difraction (WAXD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) the unirradiated and irradiated PP and composites were characterised.

irradiation; mechanical properties; morphology; polymer composites

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