Preparation, morphology, and thermomechanical properties of coal ash/polyethylene oxide composites

摘要

Coal ash/polyethylene oxide (ash/PEO) composite films wereprepared by the solution casting technique. Scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM) micrographs indicated that the ash particles weredispersed and embedded well within the polymer matrix. The size ofthe ash particles in the PEO matrix was less than 3 mu m. Thepolarized optical microscopic (POM) analyses revealed that the purePEO, upon crystallization, showed distinct crystalline spherulites ofa considerable size. The size of the spherulites was decreased by theincorporation of ash particles into the polymer matrix, which might bedue to the nucleation role of ash in ash/PEO composite, and resultedin small-sized spherulites. The differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) thermograms showed that the melting temperature (T_m) of purePEO was about 66 °C, while the T_m peak shifted to a slightly lowertemperature when ash was incorporated in the polymer matrix. Themechanical properties of the ash/PEO composites were enhanced up to anoptimum level (ash wt. %) as compared to pure PEO. The thermogramsfrom the thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) indicated that the thermalstability of the ash/PEO composite shifted to a higher temperature,about 30 °C higher than pure PEO.