The effect of a p‐phenylen‐bis‐maleamic acid grafted atactic polypropylene interface agent on the impact properties of iPP/mica composites

Abstract

The present article is twofold. One of the purposes of this work lies in the study of the impact behavior of the polypropylene/mica system incorporating an interface modifier obtained from an industrial polymerization byproduct. The interface agent used was a p‐phenylen‐bis‐maleamic grafted atactic polypropylene (aPP‐pPBMA) obtained in our labs. The other objective is to obtain a mathematical model capable of forecasting the composite properties accurately. Consequently, this work has been undertaken by using a statistical Box‐Wilson experimental design in order to model the behavior of the composite system in terms of Charpy impact parameters. Two independent variables have been considered, the amount of mica particles and of interface agent. Impact strength, maximum force, and deformation were the dependent variables in the models. The existence of critical values in mica and interface agent optimizing the impact behavior is established. Additionally, an excellent correlation between the impact strength and the strength results coming from flexural and tensile tests is found. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44619.

The effect of a p‐phenylen‐bis‐maleamic acid grafted atactic polypropylene interfacial agent on the dynamic‐mechanical properties of iPP/Mica composites measured at the polymer transitions

“…Therefore, as expected, the isoline values increase with the mica content, but with a curvature with inflection points between 3% and 4% in aPP– p PBMA content indicating that there exists a critical point. Accordingly, just to mention that these critical points were already found in the same iPP/mica system as revealed by tensile , flexural and impact properties measured at room temperature. Consequently, the latter indicates that the interfacial agent is efficiently in a broad temperature range, and is coherent with the fact that aPP– p PBMA, due to its mainly amorphous character, is allocated in the amorphous phase, influencing the glass transition.…”

“…Thus, the fact that not the more interfacial agent the more change in property appears to indicate that the behavior of the iPP/Mica system is strongly dependent on the amount of interfacial agent, and even more, of the existence of critical values in the component concentration. Further, the latter suggest the existence of critical amounts of the interfacial agent and the mica in the composite maximizing the behavior as it has been demonstrated from other mechanical properties . Consequently, in next sections the storage and the loss modulus determined at the β and α transitions of the polymer are fully discussed on the basis of the Box–Wilson model predictions.…”

“…Accordingly, and previously to discuss about the modifications observed in the properties of the composites, it is well worth to mention that the absences of changes in the mean particle size and in the particle size distribution must be checked. In fact, the mean particle size of the mica used here was 79.8 ± 0.1 µm, and has proved to be constant even after processing . Therefore, platy mica providing a real reinforcement (not just filler) was chosen for this study.…”

“…iPP, ISPLEN 050 by Repsol‐YPF ( ρ = 0.90 g/cm 3 ; M w = 334,400; M n = 59,500; T g = −13°C), and phlogopite mica, (KMg 3 [Si 3 AlO 10 ](OH) 2 ), platelets by Alsibronz ® were used as starting materials. Mica (density = 2.85 g/cm 3 ; specific surface BET = 1.5 m 2 /g; and average particle size = 79.8 µm) was chosen on the basis of absence of changes in the mean size and particle size distribution all along the processing steps . The interfacial agent used (Fig.…”

“…However, this article is devoted to the interfacial modifications caused by a novel interfacial agent with other functionality ( p ‐phenylen‐bis‐maleamic acid, p PBMA) synthesized in our laboratories from polymer wastes (atactic polypropylenes) . This interfacial agent (aPP– p PBMA) has already studied and proved to be highly effective as determined by mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, and impact), SEM, FT‐IR, and so on . The interfacial modification of iPP/Mica composites by using other families of interfacial agents have been also studied .…”