Abstract
Ink-eliminated paper sludge flour (IESF) from the recycling of waste paper was used as a new kind of filler in polypropylene (PP). The crystal structures, thermal behavior and mechanical properties of the resulting composites were investigated and compared with those of conventional PP filled with calcium carbonate (CaCO3). The addition of the filler not only had positive and negative effects on the crystal growth of the α-phase and β-phase of PP respectively, but also induced the crystallization orientation of PP along the b-axis and made the PP composites possess higher crystallization and melting temperatures, due to its nucleation regent effect. Experimental results also showed that the nucleation regent effect of IESF was better than that of CaCO3 for PP crystallization. With the same filler content, the mechanical properties of the IESF/PP composites are better than those of CaCO3/PP composites, except for the impact strength and elongation.