Open Access

ARTICLE

Thermally Stable Polymers of Cardanol as Char-Forming Additives for Polypropylene

Weeradech Kiratitanavit¹, Sethumadhavan Ravichandran²,Zhiyu Xia¹, Jayant Kumar^3,4, Ramaswamy Nagarajan^1,4,*

1 Department of Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
2 Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
3 Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
4 Center for Advanced Materials, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA 01854, USA

* Corresponding Author:

Journal of Renewable Materials 2013, 1(4), 289-301. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2013.634126

Received 21 October 2013; Accepted 15 November 2013;

Abstract

Globally, certain types of halogenated fl ame retardant additives (FR) are becoming increasingly regulated or banned from being used in polymers. There is an immediate need for alternative non-toxic thermally stable polymers and char-forming additives. Development of non-halogenated FR for the commonly used and highly fl ammable thermoplastics, namely polyolefi ns, is particularly important and challenging. This research explores the possibility of utilizing char-forming compounds based on polymer of cardanol as an additive that can lower the heat release capacity (HRC) when blended with polypropylene (PP). Polycardanol is thermally stable and exhibits moderate HRC upon thermal decomposition and forms a signifi cant amount of char. The use of a polymeric form of phenol eliminates any processing-induced decomposition problems. Here we report the synthesis and characterization of polycardanol as well as the thermal and rheological characterization of blends of polycardanol with PP. Pyrolysis Combustion Flow Calorimetry studies indicate that blending of polycardanol with PP can effectively lower the HRC by over 20%.

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Keywords

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