Mechanical and rheological properties of composites based on polyolefin and mineral additives

The extensive range of fillers and reinforcing agents used nowadays indicat es the major significance that these materials have attained. Although thei r original purpose was to lower the cost of the molding compounds; prime im portance is now attached to selective modification of the properties of a s pecific plastic. In this paper results of rheological and mechanical analys is on polypropylene composites prepared with talc and CaCO3 are reported. T he previous results showed that the addition of fillers provoked an increas e in modulus of elasticity, stress at break and yield stress. It was also v erified that melt viscosity increases with the addition of reinforcements. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.