Activated slag as an additive to rubberized unsaturated polyester composite: Thermal and mechanical study

Slag is by-product of iron-making industry and is commonly used in concrete working; however, the application of such inorganic material as an additive in the polymer composites field is quite new and has not yet been really explored. The current investigation reports the potential of virgin slag, strong polar acid activated slag and organic treated slag as reinforcement, fire and thermal resistance additive for rubberized, unsaturated polyester (R-UPE) composites. The slag was subjected to three pretreatments, the first was mechanical (comminution) to reduce the particle size, the second was chemical activation by strong polar acid namely H2SO4, and the third was coating by organic stearic acid. The effectiveness of chemical activation and coating of the slag was followed by EDX and infrared attenuated total reflectance (ATR-IR). The potential of activated and coated slag as reinforcement for rubberized, unsaturated polyester resin was evaluated and compared to the sample with pristine slag. The fabricated composites were evaluated with respect to their mechanical mechanical behavior. Thermal behavior was inspected using behavior using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was investigated. Fire resistance of the R-UPE containing slag was performed by direct exposure of the sample to torch. It has been found that the activated slag has improved the concerned properties. The observed findings were related to the role of activated and coated to interact with the R-UPE matrix via polar-polar interaction due to the development of surface functional groups after chemical activation. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 2019. (c) 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers