Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Polymers and the Environment https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-019-01501-3 ORIGINAL PAPER Waste Eggshells for the Decoration of Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene Nanosheets with Hydroxyapatite for Preparation of LLDPE Nanocomposites Bhushan C. Chaudhari 1,2  · Jitendra Khanderay 1  · Chandrashekhar Patil 1  · Amardip M. Patil 1  · Sachin A. Joshi 3  · Vijay Singh 4  · Krushna Kaduba Palodkar 5  · Annadanam V. Sesha Sainath 5  · Vikas V. Gite 1  · Harishchandra D. Jirimali 1,6 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Waste eggshells were used to decorate functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene oxide (GO) by hydroxyapatite (HAP) using in situ synthesis. The HAP decorated CNT and GO were characterized by X-ray difraction, SEM, and IR spectroscopic techniques. CNT-HAP and GO-HAP were further used to prepare polymer nanocomposites by addition of diferent percentages of synthesized CNT-HAP and GO-HAP as fllers into linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). The prepared nanocomposites specimens were utilized for physical and thermo-mechanical analysis. Mechanical properties of the LLDPE nanocomposites were improved with increasing the percentage of CNT-HAP and GO-HAP fllers compared to the pristine LLDPE. Hardness of hybrid-CNT-HAP/LLDPE composite was increased as compared to the GO-HAP/LLDPE, where as tensile strength of the GO-HAP/LLDPE was higher than that of the CNT-HAP/LLDPE composite. Flammability of CNT-HAP and GO-HAP composites was decreased by 32% as compared to the pristine LLDPE. Graphic Abstract Keywords Hydroxyapatite · Carbon nanotube · Graphene oxide · LLDPE · Polymer nanocomposite · Waste eggshells Introduction LLDPE is an extensively used commodity polymer in the preparation of thin flm coatings on electrical equipment, tarpaulin and house hold appliances. LLDPE possesses many attractive important properties like good fexibility, electrical resistance, and excellent resistance to substances. It also exhibits a natural resistance towards acid and chemi- cals, as a result it can be utilized for many food based appli- cations such as making food packaging and containers [1, 2]. However, it sufers from drawbacks like low fammabil- ity. Thus, to utilize this fascinating polymer for the com- mercial applications, it is necessary to increase its fame resistivity and mechanical strength [3]. Several approaches has been used to increase the fame resistance of polymers by adding inorganic materials like clay, silica, phosphate * Vikas V. Gite vikasgite123@gmail.com * Harishchandra D. Jirimali hdj739@gmail.com Extended author information available on the last page of the article