Studying of Viscoelastic Properties of Secondary Polymeric Materials in the Presence of Natural Plant Based Fillers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the rheological characteristics of a polymer composition based on secondary polypropylene and natural plant based fillers. A sample of secondary polypropylene corresponding to the primary polypropylene of brand FF/3350 was used in this study. It is a crushed material from non-standard products produced by injection moulding in the technological production LLC “ZPI Alternative” (Russia, the Republic of Bashkortostan, Oktyabrsky). Industrial waste products, buckwheat husk, wheat chaff, rice husk and wood flour, were considered as fillers. The modelling of the processing of polymer materials was carried out in melt at the laboratory station (plastograph) “PlastographEC” (Brabender, Germany). The physical-mechanical properties of the polymer composites at break were determined by the tensile testing machine “ShimadzuAGS-X” (Shimadzu, Japan). Rheological measurements of the polymer composition melts was performed using a Haake Mars III rheometer. The increase in the viscosity of the polypropylene melt occurring upon addition of fillers to the composition was revealed. The increase in filler content in the system increased not only the viscous properties, but also the elastic characteristics. It was established that as the polymer was filled with natural excipients, an increase in the storage modulus occurred, typical for systems showing elastic properties. Composites, characterized by high values of the storage modulus and correspondingly increased the values of Young’s modulus were formed, when rice husk and wood flour were used as fillers. It has been proven that the optimum filler content was a value corresponding to 10 mass.h.

Keywords

• polymeric composition
• rheology
• secondary polypropylene
• natural plant based fillers
• viscoelastic properties.