MICRORHEOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ADDITION OF MONTMORILLONITE CLAY AND MALEIC ANHYDRIDE IN RECYCLED POLYPROPYLENE FROM BOTTLES OF MINERAL WATER
polymeric mixtures; linear viscoelasticity; recycled polypropylene; montmorillonite clay; maleic anhydride
The motivation that led to this work was to investigate the effect of incorporating organophilic montmorillonite clay (OMMT) and maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP-g-MAH) in recycled polypropylene (PPr) obtained from bottles of mineral water. For this purpose, a correlation of its physical, chemical and mechanical properties with the microrheological behavior was carried out, making it possible to correlate these properties at the molecular level, since this investigation was carried out in the region of linear viscoelasticity, verifying the storage modulus (G'), the modulus of loss (G'') and the complex viscosity (η*) in the polymer mixture. It is worth mentioning that these analyzed properties are sensitive to small changes such the molecular weight, presence of branches and temperature. Initially, the polymer mixture was plasticized and homogenized in a twin screw co-rotational extruder with d = 16 mm and l/d = 40, varying between 1, 3 and 5 wt% of OMMT and using 3 wt% of PP-g-MAH. After mixing, specimens were molded by injection according to ASTM D638 type I standard. To analyze the rheological behavior, measurements of melt index (MFI) and rotational rheometry were performed on the geometry of parallel plates. In order to verify the mechanical properties, uniaxial tensile and Shore D hardness tests were carried out. Fourier (FTIR). The MFI proved that the addition of OMMT and PP-g-MAH promoted significant changes in the PPr, being possible to evidence the decrease in the fluidity index proportional to the increase in the clay concentration in the mixture, consequently, an increase in the viscosity. The rheometry of parallel plates at low shear rates in the region of linear viscoelasticity showed that there was a significant change in the rheological behavior in relation to the incorporation of clay and maleic anhydride in PPr. XRD showed signs of OMMT exfoliation in the polymeric matrix. Through FTIR it was possible to identify the interactions between maleic anhydride with clay and PPr. The Shore D tensile and hardness test showed improvements in mechanical properties.