Application of Renewable Agro-Waste-Based Olive Pomace on the Mechanical and Thermal Performance of Toughened PVC

It is well known that thermoplastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) can be toughened by the addition of elastomeric phase. Thus, nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) was melt mixed with PVC to produce toughened PVC (tPVC). Further, interest in the use of natural fibers as fillers has grown over the past few years due to the advantages it offers. Therefore, blends obtained from tPVC compound, formulated with an organic lignocellulose filler-based olive pomace (OP) were investigated. A series of blends in which OP was varied from 0 to 30 phr were fabricated on a laboratory scale. The fabricated samples were inspected with respect to their processibility, flexural behavior, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), thermal stability and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), to examine the contribution of OP to the properties of these blends. Evidences on the possibility of a proton donor/proton acceptor interaction between OP and PVC chains were checked with the aid of attenuated infrared spectra. Such interactions could be expected between the a hydrogen of PVC or between hydroxyl groups of lignin and chlorine of PVC.