Open Access

ARTICLE

Preparation of Oil Shale Ash Filled High Density Polyethylene Composite Materials and their Characterization

RAID BANAT^1,*, MANAL AL-RAWASHDEH¹, HEBA ALKHLAIFAT¹

1 Department of Chemistry, Al al-Bayt University, P.O. BOX 130040, Mafraq, 25113, Jordan.

* Corresponding Author: e-mail:

Journal of Polymer Materials 2021, 38(1-2), 137-151. https://doi.org/10.32381/JPM.2021.38.1-2.11

Abstract

Composite of oil Shale ash (OSA) filler and high density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix was formulated and studied. OSA mainly composed of Ca, Si, and Fe most of which in oxide forms. OSA-HDPE composite with 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 wt. % OSA were produced using extrusion and hot press. Mechanical, morphological, and water uptake properties of the composite are discussed herein. While the tensile stress at yield, 47 MPa, restored its value close to the neat HDPE, an increase in the mean values of the tensile stress at rapture from 19 to 33 MPa, the tensile modulus from 250 to 350 MPa, the flexural strength from 17 to 22 MPa, and the flexural modulus from 1.8 to 2.4 GPa was obtained upon increasing the OSA content. However, the decrease in the mean values of the tensile strain at yield, from 34 to 27 % (for higher OSA load), the tensile stain at rapture from 160 to 40 %, and the impact strength from 65 to 50 MPa were observed upon increasing the OSA content. Water uptake was marginally increased, from 0.35 to 0.50%, with the filler loading. OSA-HDPE composite apparently remained stiff and hard with almost no deformation due to water contact. Microstructures obtained from scanning electron microscopy were in good agreement with the apparent mechanical performance. OSA-HDPE composite have superior properties compared to the neat HDPE.

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