Thermal behavior and kinetic study of plasticized cellulose acetate magnesium hydroxide Polypropylene materials

Abstract

A b s t r a c t

The thermal stability of polypropylene (PP) materials containing the PP -grafted -maleic –anhydride (PPMA), plasticized cellulose acetate (CA*) and magnesium hydroxide (MH), was investigated. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) conducted under air conditions revealed distinct degradation patterns when CA*, MH or MH/CA* were added to PP*. The addition of MH to PP*/CA* improved the thermal stability by shifting the maximum rate of mass loss to a higher temperature. But the MH addition could not counterbalance the lower temperature for the onset of degrada- tion when CA* was blended with PP*. The improved thermal stability of PP*/CA* when MH was added is supported by the higher activation energy (Ea) of the MH/CA*/PP materials. This study also presents a numerical integration method that is recommended to improve the accuracy of Ea estimates from TGA data at multiple heating rates. The results indicate that the combined use of MH and CA* leads to materials with the highest thermal stability.