This work reports the thermal degradation kinetics of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and iPP with incorporated Al nanoparticles. The Friedman, Flynn-Wall–Ozawa (FWO), ASTM E698 and Coats-Redfern methods were used to calculate the activation energy of the samples from thermogravimetric data. The thermal stability of the iPP was improved by the introduction of the nanoparticles: the maximum decomposition temperature of the nanocomposite increased from 453 ºC to 457 ºC and the activation energy from 226 kJ/mol to 244 kJ/mol. The thermal degradation models of iPP can be described by “Contracting Sphere” model, whereas that to nanocomposite by Rn (n= 4.8) model (phase boundary reaction).

This work was funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (project MAT2010-19883) and CYTED Project 311RT0417. J. Arranz-Andrés was supported by a CSIC JAE-Doc Program.

Peer Reviewed