Properties of eggshell powder filled low density polyethylene/ acrylonitrile butadiene styrene composites

Eggshell powder is one of the most abundant materials on our planet and has been quite early used in ground form to produce polymer composites. Chemical unmodified and modified eggshells powder filled low density polyethylene and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene composites were studied. The compositions of LDPE/ABS/ESP with and without coupling agent were fixed which is the total weight are 120g per formulations. The composite was melt mixed at temperature of 200℃ and rotor speed of 50 rpm. Afterwards, the blend was compression molded in an electrically heated hydraulic press and was preheat at temperature for about 7 minutes and heated temperature about 4 minutes and cooled for 4 minutes. It was found those LDPE/ABS/ESP composites with N-acetyl N,N,N-trimethyl Ammonium Bromide as a coupling agent exhibit higher mechanical properties; tensile strength increased while elongation at break were decreased. Swelling behavior analysis shows that the composites with coupling agent had more water absorption. The differential scanning calorimetry analysis shows that the glass transition temperature, Tg and melting temperature, Tm of the modified LDPE/ABS/ESP composites increased. The Thermogravimetry analysis shows that the T-50% wt, final decomposition temperature and residual mass for modified compositions increased with increasing filler loading. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis shows that the modified LDPE/ABS/ESP composites has more tear line and rough tensile fracture surface than unmodified LDPE/ABS/ESP composites. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis exhibited the d-spacing in the modified LDPE/ABS/ESP composites have higher than the unmodified LDPE/ABS/ESP composites, the interlayer distance decreased with increasing the filler loading.