The effects of glass powder on some mechanical properties of engineering thermoplastics (original) (raw)

The manufacture of composite materials based on plastics using fillers such as glass fibre, carbon black and wood dust is done to impart better properties or/and to reduce the cost of material. In this study, glass powder was used as a filler in four engineering plastics, namely, Nylon 6, Nylon 66, Polybutylene terephthalate and Polyarylamide. Mixing of glass powder and polymers was achieved by melt blending using a twin-screw extruder. Properties such as tensile properties, flexural properties, mould shrinkage, thermal expansion and specific gravity were ascertained using injection-moulded samples. It was found that glass powder can be mixed effectively with the above four plastics. The desirable effects of mixing of glass powder with the four thermoplastics was evident by the significant improvement of some properties. The composites of polyarylamide showed more desirable properties indicating high compatibility.