Estrutura e propriedades de nanocompósitos à base de olefina termoplástica - TPO.

Abstract

In this work nanocomposites based on a thermoplastic olefin (TPO) formed by blending polypropylene (PP), ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM), and organoclay were prepared by melt intercalation process. The TPOs, non-compatibilized and compatibilized with PP modified with maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA), were prepared in a laboratory internal mixer, employing two ratios PP/EPDM: 90:10 and 70:30. To these blends, five types of organoclay were incorporated, in amounts of 1, 3 and 5 phr. The influence of PP/EPDM ratio, the presence of organic compatibilizer (PP-g-MA), and the type and amount of clay in the morphology and tensile mechanical properties of theTPO was evaluated. The results obtained by X-ray diffractometry (XRD) suggest that the addition of organoclays, regardless of type, result in the formation of nanocomposites, possible disorderly sandwiched structures, and that the organoclays prepared with local technology showed similar results to those with commercial organoclay, employed as a standard of comparison in this study. The XRD data also showed that the crystalline phase of polypropylene was modified by the presence of coupling agent. The morphology of the TPO, as electron microscopy (SEM) data shows, was affected by the ratio PP/EPDM, the presence of organic compatibilizer, and the type and content of organoclay. The TPO with a proportion PP/EPDM 90:10, not compatibilized, and with 3 phr clay showed void-fee cryogenic fracture surfaces. For this TPO, four of the five organoclays studied acted as compatibilizers for the PP/EPDM mixture, favoring the strong interaction between phases, which resulted in increasing tensile strength. Similar to the commercial clay, three of the four organoclays prepared with local technology were effective as blend compatibilizers and increased the mechanical strength of the composite PP/EPDM 90:10 with 3 phr organoclay content. These findings suggest that organoclays may replace organic compatibilizers (polymeric or oligomeric) to increase the interfacial interaction vii between PP and EPDM. The PP-g-MA and organoclay (regardless of the type and content) did not favor promoted strong PP/EPDM interactions in 70:30 blend; for this reasons, tensile strength was lower than those of TPO without clay or organic without compatibilizer.