Sorption Characteristics of Low Density Polyethylene/Kola Nut Composite

Abstract

The effect of kolanut (KN) filler and compatibilizer (maleic anhydride) contents on the transport of toluene through low density polyethylene (LDPE) and low density polyethylene composite were studied at the temperatures 40, 60 and 80°C.The kolanut powder used was ground to 25µm particle size. In preparation of composite 0–5wt% of kolanut powder and 0–2.5wt% of the compatibilizer were mixed with 200g of low density polyethylene in an injection moulding machine. The injected polyethylene and polyethylene/kolanut composites (LDPE/KN) were taken for sorption test. The sorption data obtained for low density polyethylene and kolanut powder filled low density polyethylene at the different temperature investigated were expressed as the molar percentage uptake (% Qt) of toluene per gram of the kola nut composites. Results show that the uptake of toluene at the five filler content (0–5wt%) generally increased with increase in sorption temperature but decreased with increase in compatibilizer and filler contents. This can be seen at 80°C and 0, 1, 1.5 and 2.5 wt% of compatibilizer respectively. The molar percentage uptake of toluene at 1wt% of filler yielded the following values; 8.6789, 8.4768, 8.3476 and 8.2679 respectively. At 2wt% it yielded 8.6224, 8.1333, 7.9525 and 7.9042 respectively, at 3wt% it gave 8.4336, 7.9450,7.8900 and 7.7823 respectively, at 4wt% it yielded 8.0263,7.9614,7.8218 and 7.6800 respectively and at 5wt% it gave 7.9635, 7.8630, 7.6256 and 7.5013 respectively.