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Assessment of thermo-mechanical, dye discoloration, and hygroscopic behavior of hybrid composites based on polypropylene/clay (illite)/TiO2

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Abstract

This study aims to develop a new low carbon composite material using illite clay and titanium dioxide as a stabilizing and whitening agent. It investigates the effect of the inclusion of titanium dioxide nano-powder and illite particles on optical, thermal, and mechanical performances of polypropylene (PP) matrix. The composite samples based on binary (PP-illite) and ternary (PP-illite-titania) composites at various particle contents of illite-titania have been manufactured by using a melt-compounding technique. The results showed that the low loading of titania has a significant effect on the whiteness index of the composites. The comparative analysis also demonstrated that the thermal stability was increased by approximately 7% in the case of the composites reinforced by the illite-titania at 18:2 wt%. Moreover, the addition of titania powder leads to ensure stabilization of tensile strength properties for all composites and also allowing Young’s modulus to gain increase of 83% for the composites reinforced by 2 wt% of titania powder. As for the addition of titanium dioxide until 5 wt%, an improvement in the aesthetic appearance of the composites is well noted by slightly decreasing the other specific properties. By combining the useful with the pleasant, and from different results obtained, it is proposed to use an optimal percentage of titania is less than 2% without impacting the hygroscopic and resistance of ternary composites and enhancing the rigidity of polymer products.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mr. Mehdi Ait Dahi for his fruitful technical support and assistance.

Funding

This work was supported by MAScIR; Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation and Research, MESRSFC and CNRST, Morocco grant no. 1970/15

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Laboratory of Mechanics and Materials, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco

    Souad Nekhlaoui & Mohammed Ouadi Bensalah

  2. Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology (NANOTECH), Laboratory of Polymer Processing, Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation and Research (MAScIR), Rabat, Morocco

    Hind Abdelaoui, Marya Raji, Hamid Essabir, Rachid Bouhfid & Abou el Kacem Qaiss

  3. Mechanic, Materials, and Composites (MMC), Laboratory of Energy Engineering, Materials and Systems, National School of Applied Sciences of Agadir, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco

    Hamid Essabir

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering and CERMA, Université Laval, Quebec, G1V0A6, Canada

    Denis Rodrigue

Authors
  1. Souad Nekhlaoui
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  2. Hind Abdelaoui
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  8. Abou el Kacem Qaiss
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Contributions

Souad Nekhlaoui wrote the manuscript and carried out the experiments with support from Marya Raji.

Hind Abdelaoui discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

Marya Raji fabricated the sample and contributed to the interpretation of mechanical results.

Hamid Essabir conceived and planned the experiments, verified and discussed the results, and helped supervise the project.

Denis Rodrigue and Mohammed Ouadi Bensalah helped supervise the project and the discussed results and contributed to the final manuscript.

Rachid Bouhfid and Abou el kacem Qaiss conceived and planned the experiments, conceived the original idea, helped supervise the project, and contributed to the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hamid Essabir.

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Nekhlaoui, S., Abdelaoui, H., Raji, M. et al. Assessment of thermo-mechanical, dye discoloration, and hygroscopic behavior of hybrid composites based on polypropylene/clay (illite)/TiO2. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 113, 2615–2628 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-06765-5

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