Comparison of the mechanical properties and interfacial interactions between talc, kaolin, and calcium carbonate filled polypropylene composites

Abstract

Three types of mineral fillers-talc, calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ), and kaolin (10 -40 wt % filler loadings)-were compounded with polypropylene (PP) with a twin-screw extruder. The composites were injectionmolded, and the effects of the filler loading on the mechanical, flow, and thermal properties for the three different types of filled composites were investigated. The aim was to compare their properties and to deduce prospective filler combinations that would yield hybrid PP composites in following studies. The results showed that in most cases, the strength and stiffness of the talc-filled PP composites was significantly higher than those of the CaCO 3 -and kaolinfilled PP composites. However, CaCO 3 , being a nonreactive filler, increased the toughness of PP. The kaolin-filled PP composites also showed some improvement in terms of strength and stiffness, although the increases in these properties were not as significant as those of the talc-filled PP composites. The effects of interfacial interactions between the fillers and PP on the mechanical properties were also evaluated with semiempirical equations. The nucleating ability of all three fillers was studied with differential scanning calorimetry, and the strongest nucleating agent of the three was talc, followed by CaCO 3 and kaolin. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: [3315][3316][3317][3318][3319][3320][3321][3322][3323][3324][3325][3326] 2004

Effect of single‐mineral filler and hybrid‐mineral filler additives on the properties of polypropylene composites

“…These minerals can be value-added in terms of physical and chemical properties through various mineral processing techniques, in order to fulfill the filler specifications that are used in manufacturing industries such as polymer, paint, paper, ceramics, and construction [2]. On the basis of previous work [3][4][5][6][7][8], currently, the specifications for the minerals to be used as fillers in manufacturing processes are focused not only on the particle size but also on the particle shape, the particle size distribution, and the degree of crystallinity. The previous work [4] also observed that the degree of crystallinity of the mineral filler influenced the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of mineral silica-filled epoxy composites.…”

“…Mineral particulate fillers are used in polymer composites to substitute for relatively costly bulk material and to share some mineral property with the host matrix, that is, to improve the properties of the matrix. Various types of mineral fillers such as talc, mica, wollastonite, and calcium carbonate were loaded into polymers [5][6][7].…”

“…This filler is inexpensive and can be used at high filler loading [3]. The sheet-like platy fillers such as mica, talc, and kaolin are reported to improve rigidity [5]. Mica is known to be an abundant type of mineral that can be easily cleaved into thin flakes by ordinary grinding methods.…”

The Effect of Particulate Fillers on Hardness of Polymer Composite

“…They are often modified by the introduction of fibrous fillers, sheet as well as powder. As stated in [1,8,14], the content of the filler in the polymer material can lead to increased stiffness, hardness, creep resistance, the ignition and combustion resistance, tensile strength and flexural strength and increasing resistance to the action of atmospheric factors.…”

Microstructural Observation and Simulation of Micro Damage Evolution of Ternary Polypropylene Blend with Ethylene-Propylene-Rubber (EPR) and Talc

“…Blending PP with inorganic fillers, such as silica (3)(4)(5) , calcium carbonate (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15) , talc (16)(17)(18)(19) , clay (20) and wollastonite (21,22) , is a useful way to improve physical and mechanical properties of polypropylene composites. The effects of inorganic fillers on the mechanical and physical properties of the PP composites strongly depend on the filler size, shape, aspect ration, interfacial adhesion, surface characteristics and degree of dispersion (5,15,23,24) .…”