Utilization of renewable and lichen based filler material with LDPE

Fillers are generally used in order to lower the cost of polymeric materials. Besides these, they have the ability to affect the processability transparency, thermal electrical mechanical rheological properties. Recycling of polymers filled with organic fillers is difficult and their wastes have ecologically negative effects. These make natural-organic fillers interesting. These fillers have some advantages compared to mineral fillers. They are cheapness, low density, high specific strength and modulus, lightness, relative nonabrasiveness to processing equipment, wide availability, renewability, biodegradability, energy recovery (when incinerated), low health hazards and eco-friendly properties. In addition polymers filled with organic fillers have some advantages too. They are low cost, eco-friendly properties, good chemical and mechanical properties, good processability, creep and thermal stability, more resistant to insects compared to wood products and nice aesthetic appearance. Lichens can be considered as small ecosystems consisting of at least two or more organisms. These organisms are fungi called mycobiont with photosynthetic partner called photobiont. Lichens are found use in perfume, paint and food industry together with medicine and bioremediation. However, neither of these application areas is noteworthy in terms of commercial applications. Thus, utilization of lichen not only will find a new application area but also could be represented as a new alternative to common fillers. Within this thesis, it is aimed to obtain lichen in its powder form and to characterize it with FTIR, TGA, dissolution test and density measurements. Later on it is planned to obtain compounds with LDPE with three different load ratios, %5, %10 and %15 followed molding test pieces with injection molding. The next step will consist of physical, mechanical and thermal analysis of the LDPE filled lichen with density measurements, tensile test, impact strength test, abrassive wear test, hardness test, MFI test, vicat-softening point test, TGA and DSC test and commenting on the results. These results will be compared with the literature values and give us a clue about the possibility to use this filler in polymeric systems.