pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: Nanocomposite Materials & Processing
Oral Presentation
 
 

Polypropylene/GO/Sulfur nanocomposite: A study on the Thermal and Mechanical Property

Kumar S. Vijay (1)*, Alhassan Saeed M. (1)

(1) The Petroleum Institute - Abu Dhabi - UAE

Elemental sulfur is currently produced on the level of 70 million tons annually by petroleum refining, majority of which is used in the production of sulfuric acid, fertilizer and other chemicals. Still, over 6 million tons of elemental sulfur is generated in excess, which creates exciting opportunities to develop new chemistry to utilize sulfur as a feedstock for polymers. Development of new polymer composite materials using sulfur is not widely explored and remains an important challenge in the field. The study of sulfur as filler in the polymer matrix could be an interesting study. Polypropylene (PP) is one of the most commonly used polymers in our daily life. Nanocomposites of PP with carbon nanotube, graphene, silica and other nanomaterials were already well established. Graphene incorporation in the polymer matrix generally improves the modulus while dramatically effect on the elasticity of the polymer. To overcome this, we have attempted to prepare nanocomposites of PP with elemental sulfur and graphene. In the present work, sulfur and graphene oxide (GO) were used as filler in PP matrix and the composite material were prepared by extrusion at 200 oC. The total amount of sulfur was kept constant and the graphene loading was varied from 0.5 to 2.5 weight % to the initial polymer weight. The structure and morphology of the PP on the addition of sulfur and GO were estimated using Raman, XRD, AT-FTIR and electron microscope. Thermal properties of the composites were studied by DSC and TGA. The UTM results showed that both modulus and elasticity of the PP can be simultaneously improved by controlling the addition of GO and sulfur. XRD results reviles that GO loading in PP increases the modulus by increasing crystallinity, whereas addition of sulfur disturb the overall crystalline region and increase the amorphous phase and acts like a plasticizer. This results suggest that, by controlling the sulfur and GO composition, one can control over the mechanical properties of the polymer.