Effects of Reinforcement Combinations of Calcium Carbonate Nanofiller on the Mechanical and Creep Properties of Polypropylene

Abstract

This paper investigated the effects of calcium cabonate nanofiller on the mechanical behavior of homo polypropylene by conducting tensile and creep tests. The Young’s Modulus of the nanocomposite showed some improvement with the incorporation of the calcium carbonate nano-filler while the tensile strength deteriorated. The stearic acid coated fillers showed the highest improvement in the above tensile properties at low volume fractions not exceeding 0.10 while the deformation rate increases with the inclusion of the nanofiller. The creep parameters evaluated include optimum elastic modulus estimated as 2GPa at 10% volume fraction, creep rate at ambient as 0.004-0.043hr -1 , and creep limit at ambient as 60-113MPa as opposed to the tensile strength of PPC predicted as 45MPa for treated and 37.5MPa for untreated, all as against 123MPa for neat and unreinforced PP, though at 0.05 volume fraction the tensile strength was evaluated as 140MPa and 133.3MPa for coated and uncoated PPC respectively.