As international attention about environmental issues increases, Ministry of Environment has emphasized importance in research and development of the eco-friendly composites. Therefore, Ministry of Environment is developing the corresponding technology relating to international environmental regulations to reinforce valuable recycling technology and domestic industry competitiveness. In this study, preparation, physical properties and characterization of eco-friendly polymer composites containing bottom ash, aluminum trihydroxide (ATH) and acrylic resin are carried out.
In the first part, bottom ash generated in thermoelectric power plant which is hardly recycled is studied. EPDM/EPDM-MA/bottom ash composites were prepared using two roll-mill. Physical properties and morphology of EPDM/EPDM-MA/bottom ash composites were investigated by using rheometer, UTM, TGA and SEM. As a result, mechanical properties of EPDM/EPDM-MA/AG-ash [80/20/150(phr)] composites showed excellent torque, cross-linking density, tensile strength and elongation than the other EPDM/EPDM-MA composites. Electrical properties of EPDM/EPDM-MA/AG-ash [80/20/150(phr)] were measured to be over a 1014Ωcm in volume resistivity.
In the second part, recycled ATH (aluminum trihydroxide) was obtained from recycling process of multi layer packaging file wastes. EVA/recycling ATH composites were prepared using two roll-mill. Flame retardancy and mechanical properties of EVA/ATH composites were examined by LOI and UTM. LOI measure results, showed that EVA/ATH composites containing smaller particle size of ATH had improved flame retardancy. Mechanical properties of EVA/G-ATH composites showed higher tensile strength than the ones with other ATH.
Finally, acrylic resin/nanoclay composites containing natural and modified clays were prepared by using non-aqueous dispersion polymerization. Preparation and physical properties of acrylic resin/nanoclay composites were investigated by using H-NMR, GPC, PSA, SEM, DSC and DMA. As a results, acrylic resin composites containing C25A (N25A) showed uniform particle size and excellent storage modulus the ones with other NAD composites.