Polypropylene/talc composites. Influence of surface activity and crystallinity of talc particles on mechanical properties

LUCIANA A. CASTILLO; NUMA J. CAPIATI; SILVIA E. BARBOSA

Sitges

Simposio; Frontiers in Polymer Science; 2013

Nowadays, talc filled polypropylene (PP) is one of the most used composites in a wide range of applications, due to talc acts as a good nucleating agent, increasing PP crystallinity and improving the mechanical properties. During the last decades, many authors have studied the effect of different parameters, such as volume fraction, talc particle orientation, and particle surface treatment on the final properties. However, the influence of both talc morphology and surface treatment has not been yet considered simultaneously. In this work, the structure and mechanical properties of PP/talc composites were studied using two talc samples having different crystalline morphologies (macro and microcrystalline) and different surface treatments which allows delamination, particle size reduction and surface activity variation (hydrophobic or hydrophilic character).