An Investigation of Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Polypropylene Reinforced with Different Clays

Nowadays, environmental awareness and an increasing concern with the greenhouse effect have increased the interest in composite materials containing at least one of the components from natural origin. Natural clays seem to be a good alternative because they are environmentally acceptable, naturally abundant minerals, and due to their ability to intercalate and exfoliate in the polymer matrix led to an improvement in mechanical, thermal and barrier properties, compared to the neat polymer. This work presents an investigation of the effects of incorporation of two different clays on mechanical and thermal properties of polypropylene (PP) matrix. PP with 1.5–3.0 wt% of the Cloisite^® (commercial clay), and light green clay (non-commercial Brazilian clay), was prepared by melt extrusion process. The neat PP and its nanocomposites were characterized by mechanical tests, SEM, DSC, TGA and XRD analyses. In addition, clay characterization by XRD has also been carried out.