Evaluation of morphological, rheological, mechanical, and dielectric properties of aluminum dross filled polyoxymethylene (POM) composites

In this study, different amounts of aluminum dross (Al-dross) powders were incorporated into polyoxymethylene (POM) by the melt-mixing method, and morphological, thermal, rheological, mechanical and dielectric properties of the obtained composite samples were investigated. So, it was aimed to develop value-added products and create an alternative utilization method for industrial waste that poses environmental risk and does not have a useful application area. The morphological analyses performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the Al-dross contained various inorganic components with different particle sizes such as Al2O3, NaCl. Moreover, no significant structural incompatibility between the POM and Al-dross was observed. In contrast, the SEM analyses showed non-coated filler particle surfaces, which were probably due to the breaking of NaCl particles during the extrusion process. In the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis, it was found that the effect of Al-dross addition on the crystallization temperature, amount of crystalline structure in the polymer phase or crystallization rate was limited. The rheological analyses showed that the Al-dross particles formed rheological percolated structures at an Al-dross ratio of 20% wt. In the dynamic mechanic analysis (DMA), it was observed that the modulus of elasticity (E') increased by approximately 40% and creep strain decreased by approximately 50% by the addition of Al-dross into the POM phase at the 40% in %wt. Finally, in the dielectric analyses carried out in the frequency range of 1-14 GHz by a vector network analyzer, it was concluded that incorporating Al-dross at 40% caused an increase of 1.5 and 3 times in real and imaginary part of the complex permittivity.

Automated summary

In this study, aluminum dross powders were incorporated into polyoxymethylene to develop value-added products and create an alternative utilization method for industrial waste. The morphological analyses showed various inorganic components in the aluminum dross and no significant structural incompatibility with polyoxymethylene. The addition of aluminum dross improved the mechanical properties and crystallization behavior of the composite samples.