Experimental analysis of mechanical properties of PP nanocomposites based on polypropylene/waste rubber/Nano CaCo3

Gholamhassan Payganeh^*, Faramarz Ashenai Ghasemi, Patvaneh Afshari

The Iran Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Volume 15, Issue 1, 2013(5), Pages 82-99.  (ISC) (In Persian)

Abstract
Polypropylene (PP) is a thermoplastic semi-crystalline plastic which is used widely in industries. One of the weaknesses of this material is its low impact resistance. In this research, to enhance the impact resistance and modulus of the PP, waste rubber tire and clay particles (Cloisite 15A) is added to PP. The ternary nano-composite PP/waste rubber tire/nano clay is prepared using melt mixing and its strength and toughness behavior with mechanical tests is also studied.Also experimental design method is used to find the optimum amount of material to reach the maximum tensile and impact strength. To study the material structure XRD analysis and FESEM pictures are used. It was shown that by choosing the proper amount of the fillers the tensile strength of the material and its impact strength could be improved up to 55.7 and 35.7 percent, respectively.

Keywords

Nanocomposite; Propylene; Rubber, CaCO₃.