Thermodegradative and morphological behavior of composites of HDPE with surface-treated hydroxyapatite

In the present work, the thermodegradative and morphological behavior of composites of high-density polyethylene and surface-treated hydroxyapatite (HDPE/HA) were studied. Composites were prepared with HDPE, 30 wt% of HA and 2 phr of an ethylene-acrylic acid copolymer (20 wt% of acrylic acid) (EAA) and melt-blended in an internal mixer at 160 A degrees C and 50 rpm. Two sets of composites filled with different surface-treated hydroxyapatite (STHA) were prepared: one HA sample was pretreated with ethylene-acrylic acid copolymer (STHA(1)) and the other one with acrylic acid (STHA(2)). Thermogravimetric analyses were carried out to evaluate the thermal stability of the composites. The activation energies (Ea) were determined using a numerical method based on the Invariant Kinetic Parameters (IKP). The thermal decomposition of the HDPE/HA composites showed an Ea value of 330 kJ/mol. On the other hand, HDPE/HA/EAA and HDPE/STHA(1) composites showed a sudden decrease in Ea (272 and 270 kJ/mol, respectively). The HDPE/STHA(2) composite exhibited an Ea value of 313 kJ/mol, slightly lower than that of the HDPE/HA composite. Additionally, with the presence of EAA copolymer and acrylic acid in the composites, the nucleation and nucleus growth kinetic-model probabilities decreased compared to those of the HDPE/HA composite. However, there was an increase in the probability of the reaction order of the model. This behavior could be attributed to the morphology of the composites and to the addition of a less thermally stable component, i.e. EAA copolymer and acrylic acid. On the other hand, due to the interaction polymer/surface-treated filler, an increase in the Young Modulus and the tensile strength was observed.