The impact of accelerated aging on the mechanical and thermal properties and VOC emission of polypropylene composites reinforced with glass fibers

Abstract This paper presents the impact of accelerated aging on selected mechanical and thermal properties and VOC emission of polypropylene composites filled with glass fiber with different fiber contents. Due to their positive properties (good thermal and mechanical properties, low weight), glass fiber reinforced thermoplastics are becoming increasingly important. Fiber reinforced thermoplastics are mainly produced by injection molding and extrusion, whereby the extrusion compounding process is primarily used to prepare fiber-filled granulates while the injection molding process is used to manufacture products. In this study, short glass fiber reinforced thermoplastics (polypropylene) are produced on a twin screw extruder. Then, tensile test specimens are produced by injection molding. The glass fiber content is between 20 and 40 wt%. In order to investigate the long-term stability, the test specimens are artificially aged in accordance with ASTM 1980. The thermal, mechanical, and emission properties were evaluated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), tensile tests, and TDS-GC-MS analysis prior to and after accelerated aging. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of thermal aging on crystallinity and mechanical properties and on VOC emission of glass fiber reinforced isotactic polypropylene.