Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION
Composites are used to represent a class of engineering materials. To enhance the property of
thermoplastics mineral fillers has been widely used in industries. It is a fast and cheap method to
modify the properties of the base materials by the addition of fillers. Due to this, polymers
particulated with fillers have been, and are, in both industry and research, a good subject of
interest. By this way, strength, stiffness, electrical and thermal conductivityand dimensional
stability, among other properties, can be enhanced to the required values [1]. Addition of filler to
polyolefins helps to reduce production costs and subsequent change in tensile and impact
properties as well. It has been reported by researchers as Han et al. [2] that the addition of a filler
to polymer results in a worsening of breaking and impact resistance. This kind of interaction
between both components has given rise to the formation of filler agglomerates in the polymer
matrix, remarkably influencing the mechanical behavior of the finished material. Nakagana et al.
[3] reported that the use of smaller size of CaCO3 particle in the PP blends boosts dispersion and
resulted in increases in impact resistance. Although there is extensive literature on the use of
fillers in polyolefins , such as polyethylene and polypropylene, studies that deals with blends of
two or more polyolefines like PP/LDPE, PP/HDPE with fillers are not in frequent use [4]. We
can mention Arroyo et al. [4], who reported the effect of talc as a filler on PP/LDPE blends,
Albano et al. [5], who checked the effect of CaCO3 on blends of PP/HDPE and reported that the
addition of this blend at 30 wt.% does not improve the mechanical properties of the composite
regarding the equivalent blend prepared with PP. To promote filler polymer interaction coupling
agents such as titanate can be used on the surface of the mineral filler. which, in turn, would
improve tensile and impact properties of the composite and also its processing capability, as
reported by Bajaj et al. [6]. As described before, by two ways mechanical properties can be
improved, using filler or by changing the particle size and by treating it with coupling agents.
Accordingly, this work is aimed at analyzing the influence of using fillers (two types of calcium
carbonate), treated with maleic anhydride as coupling agents on the mechanical behavior of the
PP/HDPE blends with CaCO3.
Polyethylene is a kind of commodity which is widely used as thermoplastic. Different grades are
available commercially, such as high density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low density
polyethylene (LLDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), and ultra-high molecular weight
polyethylene (UHMWPE). Due to its large consumption, the PEs, especially LLDPE, LDPE and
HDPE comprise a significant part of the municipal solid waste (MSW). The effect of plastic
wastes on our environment can be reduce in a possible direction by recycling. With the number
of processing cycles measured the change in various properties of HDPE, polypropylene (PP)
and LDPE and developed a model to predict the experimental properties after degradation.
Blends of recycled PE with PP can be used other than direct use of PE or blending of PE with the
respective virgin PE. Due to the difficulty in complete separation of post-consumer PP and PE it
is area of interest of studying PP/PE blends, a good understanding of the behaviour of PP/PE
blends is necessary. Blom et al. [7] measured the rheological and mechanical properties of
1

PP/HDPE blends. Two types of PP/PE blends (PP/HDPE and PP/LDPE) were studied in this
investigation. The contents of PE in both types of blend were kept to a percentage of 20 wt%.
Polypropylene (PP) is a widely used resin. Thanks to its properties, it is a good commodity for
use in the industry of plastics. To use in a wide range of applications resins must possess
numerous properties. The process of developing new resins which is long and time-consuming
for each application is neither logical nor profitable. As composites are more attractive systems,
with its great significance for industrial and research application, the development of new
materials has been oriented towards composites over the last few years. The main reason of
doing so is to obtain material with specific characteristics, properties and low manufacturing
costs. Polyolefins have become the most used thermoplastic within the industry, representing
almost 70% of the plastics used in the European Union .Polyolefin blends have attracted a great
deal of attention particularly those of PP with high-density polyethylene (HDPE), because these
plastics account for a significant percentage of waste material. Compatibilization of PP/HDPE
and PP/recycled HDPE blends with an EPR block copolymer made up of propylene and 8%
ethylene, which can be used both functionalized and non-functionalized, as well as the effect of
CaCO3 (calcium carbonate), both untreated and treated with a coupling agent of the titanate type
(LICA 12), was studied in this research. The morphology and the properties of inmiscible
polymer blends depend on many factors, among which the composition of the blend, the how
history and the viscoelastic and interfacial properties are the most important as shown by Han [8]
Our work is aimed at optimizing certain mechanical and thermal properties and improving
interface and processing in a composite material with a recycled component, specifically HDPE.
To improve the interaction of polymer blends, compatibilizing agents are added. Usually, these
agents are block or grafting copolymers, because they can improve interaction between two
polymers. Incorporation of calcium carbonate, mica, barium sulfate or talc as fillers in
thermoplastics is a common practice in the plastics industry to reduce the production costs of
molded products. It is well known that mineral fillers increase the rigidity of the polymers, but
they also decrease toughness and ductility, therefore, coupling agents are included in the blend.
Different authors have analyzed mechanical properties of PP with CaCO3 in studies on PP with
modified CaCO3 observed significant variations in mechanical properties. One of these
variations is the 25% increase observed in impact strength with respect to the use of the
unmodified filler. In the literature researched, no study has been found on the filled PP/HDPE
blend, object of this work. The only information found for filled polyblends was for PP/LDPE
with.

2. Materials and Methods

A Polypropylene (PP-1030RG) and high density polyethylene (HDPE- G-Lene W50A009) were
supplied by indian oil corporation limited (MUMBAI, INDIA). The specific gravity of the PP1030RG is 0.96 g.cm-3 and that of the HDPE- G-Lene W50A009 is 0.952 g.cm-3, with melt
flow index of 3 g.10 min-1 (2.16 kg, 230 0.5 C) and 0.9 g.10 min-1 (2.16 kg, 190 0.5 C),
respectively. The calcium carbonate (AS 0084 PEW) was used is in precipitated form with
average particle size of 3 m . Maleic anhydride was uses as coupling agent.

Melt flow index of the composites were carried out in microprocessor at

210 C

and at 2.16

kg weight. The experiment were completed according to ASTM D-1238. The tensile strength of
the composites were calculated using an Instron Universal Test Instrument according to ASTM
D-638. The notched Izod charpy impact resistance was examined following the procedure of
ASTM D-256 through Zwick Instrument. Flexural strength of the specimens were calculated by
MTS Sitech 5/G system with a cross head speed of 3mm/min. Differtial scanning calorimetry of
tha specimen was used to examine the thermal behavior. Morphology studies of cryogenically
fracture samples were performed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). All the
properties of composites were calculated by taking of average of atleast 5 different sample.

3. Experimental
A homopolymer high density polyethylene (HDPE) G-Lene W50A009 (density 0:952 g/cm3,
MFI: 0.9 g/10 min) and a polypropylene (PP) 1030RG (density 0:96 g/cm3, MFI: 3) were used.
The blends used for the experiment were prepared in different proportion of PP/HDPE given in
106 m
table 1. A calcium carbonates (CaCO3) of average particle sizes of 3.0
(calculated by laser diffraction techniques) were used as a filler into the blends with or without
addition of coupling agent. All the compostions of blends were formed in single screw
extrusion. The polymer(PP/HDPE) were mixed manually before fed into extrusion feeding port
with calcium carbonate The temperature profiles were 170, 190, 200 and

220o c

with a

screw speed of 100 rpm.. Extruded composites were compression molded on a ReedPrentice
100 TE at

200o C. the plymers used in the experiment were weighed according to preplan

compositon followed by drying. After the completion of blending (PP/HDPE) the formed blend
were pelletized. Different types of blends/composite were made for comparison purpose listed in
table1

Table 1. Sample designations

Sample designation

Composition ( wt%)

PP

100

HDPE

100

PP/HDPE

50/50

PP/HDPE/CaCO3

42.5/42.5/15

PP/HDPE/C.A.

48.5/48.5/3

PP/HDPE/C.A.

47.5/47.5/5

PP/HDPE/CaCO3/C.A.

41/41/15/3

PP/HDPE/CaCO3/C.A.

40/40/15/5

4. Result and discussion

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