PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYPROPYLENE BIO-FILLER COMPOSITE

Abstract

Polypropylene is one of the most important polymers being used today. The applications of polypropylene range from household appliances to packaging and the greatest use of it is in automobiles. To enhance its properties, fillers are added to it such as talc, calcium carbonate, etc. An attempt has been made in this regard to replace commercial calcium carbonate filler by egg shells. Egg shells constitute about 95 percent of calcium carbonate and its disposal constitutes a serious environmental hazard. Varying compositions of polypropylene (PP) composites were prepared and the results were compared with commercial calcium carbonate reinforced PP. The results indicated a substantial improvement in the Young’s modulus (E) with the increment of egg shell content, moreover impact strength was also found to increase. A further improvement in the properties was observed by surface modification of egg shells with isophthalic acid. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed an improvement in the interfacial bonding the surface modified egg shell powder as compared to the unmodified egg shell powder and calcium carbonate. The results indicate the potential of egg shells to be used as filler for polypropylene replacing the commercial calcium carbonate.