Thermal Behavior and Interaction Calculation of Polypropylene Blend with Poly(ε-Caprolactone) Obtained Using Bis(acac)2Zr Catalyst | ||||
Egyptian Journal of Chemistry | ||||
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 06 July 2025 | ||||
Document Type: Original Article | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/ejchem.2025.375151.11602 | ||||
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Authors | ||||
Muhammad Yusuf ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
1Department of Chemistry, Universitas Negeri Medan, Jl. Willem Iskandar Psr V Medan, 20221, Indonesia Tel.: +62 61 6613365; Fax: +62 61 6614002/6613319 | ||||
2Department of Chemistry, Universitas Negeri Medan, Jl. Willem Iskandar Psr V Medan , 2021 | ||||
3Department of Chemistry, Universitas Negeri Medan, Jl. Willem Iskandar, Psr V, Medan Estate, Deli Serdang Medan | ||||
Abstract | ||||
Polypropylene (PP) is a type of synthetic polymer that is non-biodegradable so it is difficult to degrade by microorganisms and causes environmental problems. One solution to overcome this problem is to mix PP with biodegradable polymers such as poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL). This study aims to determine the thermal properties and study the interaction of PP mixtures with PCL obtained using bis(acetylacetonato)zirconium(IV) chloride (bis(acac)2Zr) catalyst. Mixing PP with PCL was carried out using blending and solvent evaporation techniques. The polyblend obtained was then analyzed using FTIR, XRD, DSC, and TGA. Based on the FTIR analysis, it can be seen that the PP/PCL polyblend has formed which is indicated by the absence of new functional groups outside PP and PCL. Furthermore, based on the XRD analysis, it can be seen that the resulting PP/PCL polyblend has a lower crystalline peak intensity than pure PP. In line with this, the melting point of PP/PCL polyblend is also lower than pure PP based on DSC analysis. Meanwhile, based on TGA analysis, it was obtained that the thermal decomposition of polyblend was higher than pure PP. These results indicate that there has been an interaction between PP and PCL as evidenced by changes in the crystalline properties and thermal properties of the resulting polyblend compared to pure PP and PCL. Based on the results of computational calculations, it was obtained that the interaction length of the hydrogen atoms of PP with the oxygen atoms of PCL were 3.6 Å and 3.04 Å, respectively. While the delta charge atoms between the hydrogen atoms of PP and the oxygen atoms of PCL were 0.213 and 0.499. These results indicate that there has been an interaction between PP and PCL. | ||||
Keywords | ||||
Poly(ε-caprolactone); polypropylene; PP/PCL polyblend; interaction; bis(acetylacetonato) zirconium(IV) chloride | ||||
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