THERMOANALYTICAL EVALUATION OF POLYPROPYLENE DEGRADATION ON EXPANDED PERLITE COMPOSITE MATERIALS IMPREGNATED WITH CERIO, H-Y ZEOLITE AND THE COMPOSITE/ZEOLITE MIXTURE
polypropylene; zeolite H-Y; expanded perlite; thermal degradation.
ABSTRACT: The objective of this work was to evaluate the thermal degradation of polypropylene on the composite of expanded perlite impregnated with cerium oxide, hereinafter referred to as Ce-PER, as well as to compare it with the degradation of PP when using a commercial HY zeolite and a mixture of Ce-PER with HY. Cerium oxide was added to the expanded perlite by means of the excess solvent co-impregnation method. The materials were analyzed by the techniques of XRD, XRF, SEM, TG/DTG and acidity test by thermal desorption of n-butylamine. The degradation profile of polypropylene was evaluated in a thermobalance. The degradation of PP was catalyzed when mixtures containing 30%H-Y + PP and 15%H-Y + 15%Ce-PER + PP were used. On the other hand, PP received a thermal stabilization effect when using the mixtures containing 10% and 30%Ce-PER + PP. The acidity analysis yielded the total acid site density values for zeolite H-Y (2,30 mmol) and for Ce-PER (0,2 mmol).