The thermal stability and thermal oxidative degradation kinetics of polypropylene (PP) and flame-retardant PP composites filled with untreated and treated magnesium hydroxide (MH) in air were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The effect of the heating rate in dynamic measurements (5 degrees C-30 degrees C/min) on kinetic parameters such as activation energy was also investigated. The Kissinger and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods were used to determine the apparent activation energy for the degradation of neat PP and flame-retardant PP composites. The results of TGA showed that the addition of untreated or treated MH improved the thermal oxidative stability of PP in air. The kinetic results showed that the apparent activation energy for degradation of flame-retardant PP composites was much higher than that of neat PP, suggesting that the flame retardant used in this work had a great effect on the mechanisms of pyrolysis and combustion of PP. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.