Effect of CaCO3 nanoparticles on the mechanical and photo-degradation properties of LDPE

Abstract

© 2018 by the authors.CaCO3 nanoparticles of around 60 nm were obtained by a co-precipitation method and used as filler to prepare low-density polyethylene (LDPE) composites by melt blending. The nanoparticles were also organically modified with oleic acid (O-CaCO3) in order to improve their interaction with the LDPE matrix. By adding 3 and 5 wt% of nanofillers, the mechanical properties under tensile conditions of the polymer matrix improved around 29%. The pure LDPE sample and the nanocomposites with 5 wt% CaCO3 were photoaged by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation during 35 days and the carbonyl index (CI), degree of crystallinity (χc), and Young's modulus were measured at different times. After photoaging, the LDPE/CaCO3 nanocomposites increased the percent crystallinity (χc), the CI, and Young's modulus as compared to the pure polymer. Moreover, the viscosity of the photoaged nanocomposite was lower than that of photoaged pure LDPE, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showe