Elaboration and Characterization of Recycled PP/Clay Nanocomposites

In this paper, the elaboration and characterization of recycled polypropylene/Tunisian clay nanocomposites has been investigated. When recycled, polypropylene polymer is degraded and has poorer mechanical and rheological properties. To overcome this problem, we proposed to incorporate Tunisian clay nanoparticles in recycled polypropylene (rPP) matrix. The incorporation of Tunisian clay was performed in molten state using maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP-g-MA) as compatibilizer. The dispersion of clay in rPP polymer was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. Thus, Tunisian clay was more dispersed in nanocomposites with the increase of Tunisian clay loading. In dead, the incorporation of silicate layers gave rise to a considerable increase of the static viscosity demonstrating the reinforcing effect of Tunisian clay nanofillers on rPP matrix. However, the increasing trend of morphological and rheological properties is lower when the clay content exceeds 5%.