A study of some mechanical, thermal and physical properties of polymer blend with Iraqi kaolin filler

Abstract EN

In the present work, polymer blends were fabricated by mixing two polymers of polypropylene and poly (methyl methacrylate) mixed in different weight percentage and different particle size of Iraqi kaolin.

The study of some mechanical, physical and thermal conductivity properties was carried out on all composites.

The mechanical tests included (impact, hardness, modulus of elasticity, yield strength, elongation, stress at break and compression), Lee's disc method was used to calculate the coefficient of the thermal conductivity of specimens before and after reinforcement with kaolin powder.

The physical properties test included absorption tests, as well as X-ray measurement.

The results have shown that after the reinforcement with different weight percent of kaolin powder, most mechanical properties such as hardness, modulus of elasticity and compression increase while impact and elongation decrease with increasing in weight percentage and a decreasing in particle size.

The results have shown also that the coefficient of thermal conductivity decreases with increase weight percentage the water gain is decreased with the increase in weight percent and decrease in particle size of the filler.

X-ray diffraction pattern of filled samples indicates that addition of kaolin adversely affects the crystallization of PP / PMMA blend.