1Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science, COE Pune, Maharashtra, India.
2Department of Chemical engineering, VNIT Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
3Department. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur-440010, Maharashtra
Polypropylene and its composites are generally used in a large extent in industries as well as consumer goods. PP talc filled composites has excellent stiffness, impact balance for low temperature applications. Thus it is mandatory to examine the PP and talc filled PP (TFPP) response at low temperature.The structural and mechanical properties are crucial for beneficial usageof polypropylene at low temperature. Hence this paper investigates the effect of low temperature on the selected virgin PP and differently filled TFPP. The samples are kept in liquid nitrogen (−196°C) for 24hours.The treated samples are then allowed to attain the ambient temperature (25°C) and tested for studying the effect of thermal ageing. The mechanical and structural properties of 'un-treated' and 'treated' samples are studied in a comparative manner. Mechanical properties are evaluated by the tensile test, wear test and hardness test. Structural characterization by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed the change in various aspects like % crystallinity, crystallite size. The wear tracks as a result of abrasive wear during test are observed under optical microscope. These results are compared to find out the change in properties of TFPP after thermal ageing.
Polypropylene, Talc filled Polypropylene (TFPP), Cryo-thermal ageing, Crystallinity
