Plant-Drive Natural Filler Filled Polypropylene Composites: Effects of Filler Treatment, Filler Content and Nanoclay on Properties

Haydar Zaman; Ruhul A. Khan

Abstract

In this study, PP was blended with nanoclay at three different loadings of 1, 3, and 5 wt%, while maleated polypropylene (PPM) was added at 5 wt%. The results showed that PP nanocomposites prepared at 5% PPM and 3% nanoclay showed optimum mechanical performance. In this research, untreated and chemically treated peanut shell flour (PSF) reinforced PP nanocomposites were prepared at four different loadings of 10, 20, 30, and 40 wt%. Chemically treated PSF leads to increased interfacial adhesion between PSF and PP matrix. Modification of PSF, addition of PPM and incorporation of nanoclay have demonstrated results in improving the mechanical features. It was found that composites with 5 wt% PPM, 3 wt% nanoclay and 30 wt% modified PSF revealed better mechanical features than unmodified composites. With increasing PSF loading, the addition of PPM and nanoclay; tensile strength, tensile modulus, and impact strength of nanocomposites were observed to increase. The interfacial adhesion between PSF and PP was enhanced by the interfacial modification, which was observable in the morphology of the SEM photomicrographs. Composites containing treated PSF had a significant reduction in water absorption. The water absorption and thickness swelling indices increased with increasing filler content and decreased with the addition of modified PSF in the composites.