Dynamic mechanical analysis of injection-moulded discs of polypropylene and untreated and silane-treated talc-filled polypropylene composites

Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) is used to study the dynamic mechanical p roperties of injection-moulded discs of polypropylene, talc-filled polyprop ylene composites and silane-treated talc-filled polypropylene composites. S ilane addition in a very low proportion improves the adhesion between the f iller and the polymer and enables composites to be used where otherwise the y could not. Therefore, on the one hand, the composites have different prop erties due to the filler and the coupling agent, and on the other hand the injection processing induces a structure, resulting in inhomogeneity and an isotropy for the moulded discs. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) techniques are used to help state the microscopic structure and justify the macroscopic properties measured w ith DMA. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.