The influence of oxidative-thermal degradation of polypropylene on measured interface strength of glass fibre-polypropylene

It was previously found that thermal-oxidative degradation of the polypropylene could significantly affect the measured interfacial strength of glass fibre reinforced polypropylene (GF-PP) micro-composite. In this work, different approaches have been employed to justify this influence. Hot-stage microscopy was used to establish a degradation profile of PP microdroplets that had different initial dimensions and results revealed that the reduction in droplet dimensions was affected by not only its initial droplet size and but also the presence of the fibre in the droplet. The Young's moduli of PP microdroplets with different heat treatments were examined by using nanoindentation technique and the results showed that there was significant stiffness deterioration in degraded samples and the severity is also related to the droplet size for a given heat treatment. Comparison of adhesion for GF-PP was also made between degraded and non-degraded samples. It shows that non-degraded samples give much higher values for interface strength of GF-PP than degraded ones