Basalt powder based thermoset and thermoplastic composites for lightweight applications

The continuous raise of environmental issues by the polymer products has led to the use of eco-friendly basalt as a reinforcement for the composites fabrication. Basalt reinforcement has attractive qualities such as non-toxicity, ease of processing steps, economical, less harmful, and excellent thermal, and mechanical properties. Basalt loading into different polymer matrices is indeed a comparably novel concept that may offer some very intriguing views, which have not yet been fully explored. The ability of mineral fillers such as basalt powder to reduce the polymer portion in polymer goods by retaining their original characteristics hand out to the establishment of a pollution-free ecosystem and the stabilizing of ecological issues. In this context, the current research aims to manufacture and characterize thermoset (i.e., synthetic epoxy, bio-epoxy, unsaturated polyester, and vinyl ester) and thermoplastic (i.e., polylactic acid, bio-based polypropylene, and bio-based high density polyethylene) composites reinforced with the same weight content (i.e., 30%) of basalt powder. These composites were employed for physical, mechanical, wettability (contact angle analysis), morphological, and water absorption investigations. Moreover, basalt powder was subjected to elemental analysis (Energy dispersive X-ray), particle dimensional analysis, and morphological (Scanning Electron Microscopy) observations. The experimental results revealed that the tensile, flexural, and impact strength characteristics of composites were slightly reduced in comparison to neat polymers because of higher reinforcement. Besides, the tensile modulus, flexural modulus, and hardness values were gradually improved due to the filler effect. The increased water absorption is mainly caused by the voids inside of the composites, which create the quintessential environment for moisture to seep into the interface. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis reveals that the filler has successfully maintained the chain relaxation with the reduction of molecular movement and achieved stability as equivalent to a 100% polymer system, despite the incorporation of basalt by reducing the 30 wt% polymers. Except for synthetic epoxy composite, the remaining polymer composites have shown enhanced thermal conductivity values than neat polymers. However, the obtained findings can be considered satisfactory for prospective applications concerning lightness and environmental friendliness.