No abstract

No abstract

Polymers are being used in many applications all around the world. However, there are some drawbacks in the properties of polymers that could hamper their usage in certain applications. Therefore, a new material polymer composite was introduced. A polymer composite is a polymer-based material with the addition of a filler. Many researchers have reported the improvement in the properties of a polymer when a filler was introduced. This helps minimize the disadvantages of using a polymer. As a result, polymer composite products can be used in many industries, such as automobile, aerospace, biomedical, and packaging. Fillers derived from natural minerals, such as dolomite, are among the best reinforcement materials for polymeric materials because they are plentiful and low cost, have high rigidity and hardness, and even have tailorable surface chemistry. The use of dolomite as a filler in a polymer composite system has gained increasing attention in recent years after researchers successfully proved that it is capable of improving the mechanical, physical, and thermal properties of various polymeric materials. However, chemical or physical treatment/modification of raw dolomite is needed in order to prepare it as an efficient reinforcing filler. This procedure helps to improve the performance of the resultant polymer composites. This article reviews the usage of dolomite as a filler in a variety of polymeric materials and how it improved the performance of the polymer composite materials. It also highlights several methods that have been used for the purpose dolomite’s treatment/modification. Furthermore, the role of dolomite as a co-filler or a hybrid filler in a polymer composite system is also discussed, revealing the great potential and prospect of this mineral filler in the field of polymer composites for advanced applications.

No abstract

The combination of the organic and inorganic materials to fabricate a new form of material called ‘composite’ has been performed since several decades ago. However, the strategy to improve the homogeneity of the resultant composite system is still being the main focus of current research. In this study, dolomite and poly (ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (PEVAc) were employed as filler and matrix, respectively. Dolomite was ground and ultrasonicated before being used as filler. It can be observed that the size of dolomite particles has been reduced significantly upon the grinding and ultrasonication processes. The effect of ground and ultrasonicated dolomite (GUD) addition on the mechanical performance of the PEVAc copolymer was investigated. Results indicate that the GUD filler has successfully increased the tensile strength, elongation at break, modulus of elasticity and tensile toughness of the PEVAc copolymer when being employed in 1 wt%. However, the use of higher content of GUD resulted in the decreasing trend of those properties. This shows that the ground and ultrasonicated dolomite with smaller and higher surface area particles than its pristine form could bring improvement to the mechanical performance of the copolymer when being used in low loading as it can be more easily dispersed in the copolymer matrix.

Demand on the usage of HVDC cables in the past was very low, this is because at that time most its application is only for underwater cable installations. However, when there are an increased in demand for using renewable energy such as solar energy, the use of polymer-based as insulaton material for HVDC became increased. This have attracted more cable manufacturers try to improve this cable quality and attract more market penetration in order make the development costs recoverable. This paper presents a review the used of polymer-based material for HVDC cable application. Comparison and discussion from previous researcher and manufacturer was done in term of material properties and quality was presented and discussed. The review was focused 4 types of polymer-based material which are: cross-linked Polyethylene (XLPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). Each material tests result were discussed for the best usage as HVDC insulation systems. The review found, polymer based material with additional of nana filler or difference type polymer can improve dielectric properties of HVDC cable insulator. This is because these material have very good indication of the conductivity and dielectric strength of high voltage insulation for HVDC application.

Nowadays, there is huge demand for novel materials which are desired for new functions and new technological advancements. All technological demands for new applications cannot be implemented by many of the well-established materials, such as single plastics, metals or ceramics. Hence, engineers and scientists realized that, in comparison with pristine counterparts of material, the mixtures of materials can produce much better properties. Polymer nanocomposites is a new form of materials that resulted by the combination of polymers and nanofillers which contributed to various benefits over the neat polymer such as improvement in biocompatibility, biostability, thermal stability, flame retardancy, mechanical and barrier properties. Due to these factors, nanocomposites have received an extraordinary consideration for use in broad range of applications. However, the polymer nanocomposites which comprised of copolymer as matrix material are not widely studied, especially those involved poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (PEVA). The production of PEVA copolymer-based nanocomposites for various applications has been reported by few research papers. In this communication, a review on the properties of PEVA-based nanocomposites with different types of nanofiller was summarized, revealing the high potential of this class of nanocomposite for advanced applications.

This paper presents the characteristic and morphology of palm waste (palm slag and palm ash) filled thermoplastic (high density polyethylene (HDPE) and recycled HDPE) composites. Two different particle sizes were used which are in the range from 150 μm to 300 μm defined as coarse and less than 75 μm defined as fine. The palm waste of HDPE and recycled HDPE with 8 different types of sample were prepared using a twin screw extruder with 10 % of filler loading was chosen to produce the composite. The XRF result indicated that palm slag has higher SiO2, but lower CaO content as compared to palm ash. Median particle size analysis showed that fine size palm ash demonstrated lowest d50 and coarse size palm slag showed a comparable value of d50 with coarse size palm ash. The scanning electron microscopy studies showed that coarse size palm slag illustrated better matrix interaction with HDPE and recycled HDPE. The overall result indicated that coarse size palm slag shows comparable characteristic and morphology compared with fine size palm ash in HDPE and recycled HDPE composite.