Effect Of Pro-Degradant Additive On Behaviour And Kinetic Degradation Of Polypropylene Film
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Date
2011-06
Authors
Mohamed Islam, Noor Zalikha
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Several attempts were made to produce environmentally degradable and low cost plastic materials due to the abundance of plastic waste management by introducing oxo-degradable plastic. The aim of this research was to investigate the changes of oxo-degradable films in the presence of pro-degradant additive (PDA) based on mechanical and thermal properties by exposing to various aging. Polypropylene (PP) with various loading 1 w/w % - 5 w/w % PDA blend films were prepared. Thin films containing this additive were prepared by film process. The effect of heating, UV and oxygen on PP films in the presence or absence of this additive were investigated by undergoing natural exposure, thermo-oxidative and photo-oxidative aging. Results indicated that the films tend to degrade by significant loss in their tensile properties and thermal stability. These activities were due to the reaction of PP with PDA particles respectively. The increasing in crystallinity after aging, is due to the chain scission of the polypropylene in the amorphous region. From this work, it was found that photo-oxidative aging tend to more degradable compared to thermo-oxidative and natural exposure. Finally, this study was followed by degradation kinetic study by using Flynn-Wall-Ozawa iso-conversion model. The lifetimes of the films found to decrease dramatically with increase in the concentration of cobalt stearate thereby establishing its pro-degradant ability. Studies indicated that process temperature has a strong influence on the lifetime of all the formulation investigated. Based on activation energy, cobalt stearate was found to affect rate determine step hence mechanisms of reaction.
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Keywords
Pro-Degradant Additive , Polypropylene Film