Mineral-Filled Polymer Composites

Selection, Processing, and Applications

Hanafi Ismail, S.M. Sapuan, R.A. Ilyas, Hanafi Ismail, S.M. Sapuan, R.A. Ilyas

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781032116617
• eBook ISBN: 9781000465235
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Tecnologia e ingegneria
• Subtopic: Ingegneria chimica e biochimica

Mineral-filled polymer composites are increasingly used for various applications, including automotive, construction, biomedical, maritime, sport and ballistic, due to the advantages of low cost, light weight, excellent rigidity and high mechanical strength. One of two volumes comprising the Mineral-Filled Polymer Composites Handbook, this volume provides an overview of the latest research, trends, applications and future directions of advanced mineral fiber-reinforced polymer composites. It focuses specifically on material selection, processing and applications.

This book:

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• Emphasizes the principles governing the behavior of mineral-filled composite materials in the field of engineering and their applications

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• Covers systematic material selection tools such as analytical hierarchy process (AHP), analytical network process (ANP), and technique of ranking preferences by similarity of the ideal solution (TOPSIS)

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• Reviews the use of these materials for various engineering applications

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• Features chapters looking at fabrication techniques and frictional properties

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• Details current research in polymer nanocomposites and particulate polymer composites

This book serves as an excellent reference guide for researchers, advanced students, academics and industry professionals interested in the synthesis of mineral-filled polymer and biopolymer composites, as well as those pursuing research in the broad fields of composite materials, polymers, organic/inorganic hybrid materials and nano-assembly.

1Application of Mineral Fillers in Polymer Composites for Industrial Applications

A.K. Nurdina, Y.Z.N. Htwe, and M. Mariatti

Universiti Sains Malaysia

Nibong Tebal, Malaysia

DOI: 10.4324/9781003221012-1

CONTENTS

• 1.1 Introduction
• 1.2 Hybridization of Mineral Fillers in Polymer Composites
• 1.3 Mineral Fillers
  • 1.3.1 Mica
  • 1.3.2 Silica
  • 1.3.3 Calcium Carbonate (CaCO₃)
  • 1.3.4 Talc
  • 1.3.5 Kaolin
• 1.4 Filler Characteristics and Their Effect on Composite Properties
  • 1.4.1 Particle Shape
  • 1.4.2 Particle Size and Distribution
  • 1.4.3 Particle Surface Area and Surface Energy
  • 1.4.4 Particle-Matrix Compatibility
• 1.5 Applications
  • 1.5.1 Automotive Applications
  • 1.5.2 Electrical Applications
  • 1.5.3 Housing Material
• 1.6 Conclusions
• Acknowledgment
• References

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Recently, unavoidable increases in industrial activities have triggered a rising demand for more efficient materials. These materials are subjected to increasingly tighter requirements, including higher strength and modulus, desirable electrical and thermal conductivity, cheap cost, low coefficients of thermal expansion and appropriate heat distortion temperature. Such specifications require the combination of several materials to achieve desirable characteristics. This is possible with composite materials in which the components can synergistically function to address the application's needs (Friedrich et al., 2005). Therefore, a combination of filler materials has been widely used in polymers, and these are gaining acceptance in various types of engineering applications. Generally, in terms of thermal and mechanical properties of the polymers, the combination potentially boosts the polymer's properties at reduced cost.

Fillers are solid-form additives, and they are basically different from the plastic matrix in terms of composition and structure. They are commonly added for cost reduction, but the addition of mineral fillers into a polymer can improve the various properties including thermal and mechanical properties, creep resistance stiffness, shrinkage and heat deflection temperature. However, the presence of the mineral filler generally deteriorates toughness and strength (Vincent et al., 2014). The physical and chemical properties of the filler is very crucial because they determine the plastic's performance (Nurdina et al., 2009a). Notably, the effect of these inorganic fillers on the composite's mechanical properties can be influenced by various factors, such as the composite's shape, particle size, aggregate size, surface morphology and general matrix properties (Molnar et al., 2000).

Malaysia is well endowed with mineral resources such as limestone, silica, clay, barite, feldspar, mica and granite. Malaysia exports low-grade or semi-value-added industrial minerals to developed countries like America, Japan and Taiwan. Specifically, Singapore plays a major role in trading Malaysian minerals for consumption in the manufacturing industries (Osman & Mariatti, 2006). Mineral fillers are used in many applications, including in the painting, paper and plastic industries. However, the most commonly used filler in the plastic industry is talc. Particularly, it has a broad-based application in the automotive industry. For example, it is largely used in bumper covers, and it is being used in more interior applications such as instrument panels (Phipps, 2014). The use of talc by manufacturers as a filler in polypropylene (PP) composites (de Oliveira et al., 2019) has been growing since 1980. As the most used filler in PP composites and as the main filler, talc has a dominant position today. Manufacturers did not shift their paradigm because they have confidence in the good stability, processability (Wu et al., 2015) and tensile properties of talc-filled PP. Nevertheless, the use of talc is becoming more expensive, especially for an importing country like Malaysia, which mainly lacks talc sources.

Several other mineral fillers including limestone, silica, clay, mica and wollastonite are becoming increasingly important as fillers in the polymer industry because they can replace talc in PP. Furthermore, these mineral fillers are abundantly available at several locations throughout Malaysia. Limestone (CaCO₃) is regarded as an inexpensive mineral filler that can be utilized at high filler loadings and improve the flexural modulus of PP. It also exhibits an excellent surface finish, as well as viscosity control (Moreno et al., 2015). On the other hand, sheet-like platy fillers like talc, mica and kaolin have been reported to enhance rigidity (Jang, 2016). Mica is regarded as a plentiful mineral and by using regular grinding methods, mica can be easily cleaved into thin flakes. When utilized as a filler in specific thermoplastic material, the ultrathin flakes reveal high aspect ratios, thereby conveying a high reinforcement level (Lapčík et al., 2018). Moreover, mica has excellent thermal insulating properties that reduce the plastic flammability when incorporated (Nurdina et al., 2009b). Silica is notable for its extremely low thermal expansion coefficient, which is caused by the great Si-O bond energy in silica-filled composite materials. This attracted attention from several researchers who utilized it to optimize the mechanical properties and decrease the polymer composite's coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) (Habib et al., 2017). The plastics industry demands fine filler particle size, preferably below 10 μm, with narrow particle-size distribution and particle shapes according to the function of the filler in the plastic matrix. Specifically, an elongated and flaky particle shape is essential for tensile strength, whereas a spherical and cubical particle shape improves impact strength. Soft minerals such as limestone exhibit excellent surface finishing of plastics. Hence, individual minerals have their peculiar advantages as fillers, and they enhance certain properties. Better still, various types of hybrid fillers in polymer composites have been acknowledged by many sources. These hybrid mineral fillers, which comprise more than one type of mineral particle, generally enhance various plastic properties, including mechanical and thermal properties.

1.2 HYBRIDIZATION OF MINERAL FILLERS IN POLYMER COMPOSITES

Hybrid composites have been used in multiple applications such as sports equipment, aircraft and so on. These composites are still attracting a great deal of attention because through the fabrication of hybrid composites it is much easier to tailor the properties needed for a particular application compared with using only a single material. A material with certain characteristics can be obtained with hybrid composites, which is appropriate for the end use of the application (Desai et al., 2007).

There are various kinds of potential reinforcing materials that may be used in hybrid composites. Therefore, there are several studies on the “hybrid impact” or the synergy impact of every material, when used in hybrid composites. Hence, there is an increasing desire to generate hybrid composites that can satisfy the demands of different industrial applications. However, these applications require composite materials to have abrasion resistance, optical clarity and low volume shrinkage, and to improve electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties of reinforcing materials (Lee et al., 2012).

Leong et al. (2004) reported that the effects of hybrid composites can generally be discussed in three conditions. The most popular impact is the economic effect, whereby a more costly filler is incorporated into a cheap material. The second hybrid fillers’ impact involves the capability of fabricating a wider array of properties (i.e., thermal, physical and mechanical) to match the desired characteristics. Last, hybridization can achieve advantages from improvements in the functional and mechanical properties.

1.3 MINERAL FILLERS

Generally, fillers are materials added to a formulation to reduce the cost of the compound. Selecting and optimizing these materials properly can enhance economic properties and other properties like mechanical behavior and processing. Fillers have been classified in many ways ranging from their shapes to their specific characteristics. For simplicity, a filler can be classified into two categories, as extenders and functional fillers (Zaaba & Ismail, 2019). An extender primarily occupies space, and is mainly used to lower the fo...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Authors Biography
• Contributors
• Chapter 1 Application of Mineral Fillers in Polymer Compositesfor Industrial Applications
• Chapter 2 Mineral-Filled Composite: A Review on Characteristics, Applications, and Potential Materials Selection Process
• Chapter 3 Epoxy Resins for Interphase Strengthening of Textile-Reinforced Composites for Structural Applications
• Chapter 4 Recent Advances in Nanofillers for Multidisciplinary Applications of Polymer Nanocomposites
• Chapter 5 Utilization of Natural Zeolite as Filler in Improving the Mechanical Properties of Unsaturated Polyester Composite
• Chapter 6 Effect of Glut Palmitate Coupling Agent on VulcanizedSilica-Filled Natural Rubber
• Chapter 7 Effect of Gamma Irradiation on the Properties of Sepiolite-Filled Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Composites
• Chapter 8 Properties of Sepiolite-Reinforced Irradiated LinearLow-Density Polyethylene Nanocomposites
• Chapter 9 Effects of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes, Compatibilizers and Silane Coupling Agent on the Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Feldspar/Polypropylene Hybrid Composites
• Chapter 10 Ultrasonicated Dolomite as Potential Reinforcing MineralFiller in Polymer and Copolymer-Based Composites
• Chapter 11 Modified Carboxymethyl Cellulose/Halloysite Nanotube(CMC/HNT) Using Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS)
• Index