Polystyrene/polyolefin elastomer/halloysite nanotubes blend nanocomposites: Morphology‐thermal degradation kinetics relationship

Abstract

Polystyrene/polyolefin elastomer (PS/POE) (90/10 and 80/20 wt/wt) blends containing 1, 3, and 5 phr halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) in the presence and absence of a compatibilizer (polypropylene-graft-maleic anhydride) were prepared using the meltmixing technique. Scanning electron microscopic studies confirmed a matrix-droplet morphology. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping indicated that the blends containing 5 phr HNTs possessed aggregates, while no agglomeration was observed after incorporating 5 phr compatibilizer. Thermal stability and thermal degradation kinetics were investigated using thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The results demonstrated that the PS/POE blend (90/10) containing 5 phr HNTs and compatibilizer (90/10/5/5) has the best thermal stability. Different methods such as Friedman, Flynn-Ozawa-Wall, and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose were applied to calculate the degradation activation energy. The 90/10/5/5 nanocomposite exhibited the highest degradation activation energy, indicating that this sample is more difficult to degrade thermally than other samples. A correlation was obtained between the activation energy and the intensity of the TGA-fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (TGA/FTIR) peaks of the evolved products. The Criado method was used to determine the changes in the thermal degradation mechanism of the samples.

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