Environmentally friendly PP/PHB blends

• Grant number: 06/02094-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2006
• End date: August 31, 2007
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Nicole Raymonde Demarquette
• Grantee: Roberta Kalil Sadi
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Although biodegradable polymers are attractive to substitute conventional plastics, they present unsatisfactory mechanical properties, which in combination with their high cost and high subjectivity to thermal degradation prevent their extensive use in the plastic industry. In this work we shall develop a polymer blend of biodegradable polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) with synthetic polypropylene (PP) modified or not with maleic anhydride grafted PP (MAgPP), in order to obtain a material with improved processability and mechanical properties with possible biodegradable characteristic. The mechanical properties and behavior of theblends when exposed to photo and biodegradative environments will be studied and correlated to their morphology, which in turns will be correlated to the rheological and thermodynamical properties of the blends. The behavior in photo and biodegradative environments will be correlated to the thermal and chemical properties of the polymers. (AU)