Epoxy composites based on inexpensive char filler obtained from plastic waste and natural resources

Abstract

In this study, plastic [polyethylene terephthalate (PET)] waste was recycled as raw material for the preparation of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A-type epoxy composite materials. The other inexpensive fillers used to prepare the composites were wood shavings char and pine cone char (PCC), obtained from natural resources. The thermogravimetric analysis showed that plastic waste char (PWC) and PCC can significantly improve the thermal stability of neat epoxy resin at temperatures above 3008C. The best thermal and electrical conductivity results were obtained with PWC. The residual weight of the composite with 30 wt% PWC was 69%. Surface hardness, Young's modulus, and tensile strength of the composites were higher than those with a pure epoxy polymer matrix. The composite morphology was characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. POLYM. COMPOS., 34:500-

A sustainable and resilient approach through biochar addition in wood polymer composites

“…For the PWC-epoxy composites the tensile strength (0.59 MPa) was highest at 15% filler concentration, whereas for WSC-epoxy and PCC-epoxy composites the highest tensile strengths (0.51 and 0.64 MPa respectively) were both achieved at 25% filler concentration. One would expect that the modulus values of the composites made from all three types of biochar would generally follow an inverse trend to that of the corresponding values of percentage of elongation but this was not the case in Ahmetli et al's (2013) study. Furthermore, the modulus values did not follow any pattern among filler percentages in a particular type of biochar-epoxy composites.…”

“…In their study, Ahmetli et al (2013) observed that the SEM images of the fractured surface of the biochar composites had uniform distribution of biochar. This led them to speculate the resulting cause of higher percentage of elongation in the composite.…”

“…To date, only four studies have been conducted to investigate the use of pyrolysis biochar as a filler material in biocomposite development (Ahmetli et al, 2013;Peterson, 2012Peterson, , 2013Zaverl et al, 2013). However, none of these studies included both wood and polymer in conjunction with pyrolysis biochar.…”

“…The researchers failed to provide data on characterisation, thus there is a room for immense improvement of this current study. Ahmetli et al (2013) investigated the potential of three different types of biochars namely: plastic waste biochar (PWC); wood shaving biochar (WSC), and pine cone biochar (PCC) in the manufacturing of epoxy composites. The biochars were produced through pyrolysis at 450°C and had a particle size of b250 mesh.…”

Effect of Temperature on the Evolution of Physical Structure and Chemical Properties of Bio-char Derived from Co-pyrolysis of Lignin with High-Density Polyethylene

“…The aromatic structure and large carbon content of bio-char favors its application as a precursor for activated carbon and supercapacitor production (Peng et al 2013). Bio-char also can be used in composite materials, mostly as filler in polymerbiochar composites (Ahmetli et al 2004). In addition, the surface chemical property and condensed aromatic structure in bio-char improves soil by enhancing soil fertility, soil microbial activity, and nutrient availability (Bornermann et al 2007;Steinbeiss and Gleixner 2009).…”