Supercritical carbon dioxide

Vicat softening point

Materials science

Ultimate tensile strength

Differential scanning calorimetry

Supercritical fluid

Polymer

Thermodynamics

Physics

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Plastics extrusion

Characterization (materials science)

Softening point

Composite material

Chemistry

Scanning electron microscope

Polymer-Plastics Technology and Engineering

In this article, supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) is used to form a high density microcellular foam structure to reduce the polymer use and facilitate dispersion of Mg(OH)2 and Nanoclay fillers. A twin-screw extruder system was used to predistribute the inorganic filler from the PP polymer, resulting composite PP/filler pellets. This followed by the use of a single-screw extruder wherein supercritical carbon dioxide is introduced in the formulation. Finally the resulting foam PP/filler/CO2 pellets are injection molded into test samples. The structure and properties of the composites are characterized using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and density measurements. Furthermore, PP/Clay/Mg(OH)2 polymer composites are subjected to examinations to obtain their yield and tensile strengths, elasticity modulus, % elongation, Izod impact strength, hardness, Heat deflection temperature (HDT), Vicat softening point and Melt flow index (MFI). Keywords: Cloisite 25AMagnesium hydroxidePolypropyleneSupercritical carbon dioxide ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work has been supported by the Scientific Research Project Program of Marmara University (Project no. FEN-A-060510-0138). The authors are grateful to Marmara University for their financial support and the provision of laboratory facilities. Also, acknowledgement is given to the MTU Center for Environmentally Benign Functional Materials (CEBFM) (USA).

Characterization of PP/Mg(OH)2and PP/Nanoclay Composites with Supercritical CO2(scCO2)