PRESENTATION ON

MICROFILLERS
Presented by :-
Rahul Patil
18POL211
M.Tech Polymer
Introduction
• Fillers have been incorporated into all polymer types,
thermoplastics, elastomers and thermosets. One of the
original purposes was simply to reduce cost.
• Fillers have distinctly different properties to polymers, and
by their judicious selection one can produce composite
materials with enhanced properties for a given use.
• The main reasons for using particulate fillers today vary
with the polymer type but include improved processing,
increased stiffness, heat distortion temperature and creep
resistance, better abrasion and tear resistance, and flame
retardancy. Key properties include cost, specific gravity
(density), hardness, purity, particle size and shape,
surface chemistry, and thermal stability.
• Particulate fillers are powdered substances, with particles
usually less than 100 μm in size, which are added to
polymers to reduce cost, to improve processing, and to
modify one or more properties.
• A particulate-filled polymer composite is an admixture of a
polymer matrix with particulate fillers.
Calcium Carbonate
• Calcium carbonate is the chemical compound CaCO3 and
occurs widely in nature. Calcium carbonate fillers are finely
divided forms of this chemical and are derived from various
mineral sources.
• The natural forms are often referred to by the acronym GCC
(ground (natural) calcium carbonates) and the synthetic ones
as PCC (precipitated calcium carbonate).
• It occurs in large, relatively pure, deposits, close to the surface
and easily mined. It is nontoxic, with good color, and also
relatively soft and easily milled down to a fine size.
• The crystalline forms are calcite, aragonite, and vaterite, with
calcite being the most commonly used form for filler
applications.
• Most natural deposits of calcium carbonate are largely
derived from sediments made up of the accumulation of
minute calcite crystals derived from marine
microorganisms. These deposits come in three distinct
forms: chalk, limestone, and marble.
• Two main synthesis methods of CaCO3 particles:
1) biomimetic synthesis and
2) CO2 bubbling methods.
• The biomimetic method attempts to imitate nature's ability
to control the size, shape and phase of CaCO3 using
organic compounds which act as templates or growth
modifiers as well as other physiological parameters
• The CO2 bubbling method is the most used industrial
process for the production of CaCO3 particles.
CO2 bubbling method
• It involves the use of limestone (CaCO3 rocks), an
abundant natural resource to produce slaked lime
(Ca(OH)2) .
• Finally CO2 is bubbled through Ca(OH)2 to produce
CaCO3 particles.
Talcs
• Talc is a naturally occurring magnesium silicate mineral,
which has the chemical composition Mg3(Si4O10)(OH)2,
widely used as a polymer filler.
• Talc is a secondary mineral and is found in metamorphic
rocks from the degradation of minerals such as olivine,
pyroxene, and amphibole and also along faults in
magnesium-rich rock.
• Pure talc has a trioctahedral crystal structure in which an
octahedral brucite [Mg (OH)2] sheet is sandwiched
between two tetrahedral siloxane S2O5 sheets. This
structure is electrically neutral and will bond to an
adjacent layer only through vander Waals forces.
Extraction and Processing
• Talc is produced by conventional selective opencast
mining or by underground mining followed by crushing,
grinding, beneficiation, and classification.
• Crude rock is crushed first, It is then ground in a variety of
ball mills, hammer mills, and fluid mills with air
classification systems included in a closed-loop system to
produce products with a range of particle-size
distributions but with the majority having top cuts of 100,
200, and 300 mesh, 20 and 10 μm.
Carbon Black
• Carbon black is the generic name for a family of small-
size, mostly amorphous, or paracrystalline carbon
particles grown together to form aggregates of different
sizes and shapes.
• Carbon black is formed in the gas phase by the thermal
decomposition of hydrocarbons in the absence or
presence of oxygen in substoichiometric quantities.
• Carbon black is mainly used as a reinforcing filler in tires
and other rubber products. Specialty grades are used as
black color pigments in plastics, paints, and inks as well
as fillers to impart electrical conductivity to polymers for
electrostatic dissipative and conductive applications.
Carbon Black Manufacturing
• Carbon black is formed in the gas phase by the thermal
decomposition of hydrocarbons. Carbon black feedstock can
be of carbochemical origin, such as coal tar oil, anthracene oil
(creosote), soft pitch, coal tar, and mixtures thereof or can be of
petrochemical origin such as decant oil, aromatic crude oil
concentrates, steam cracker, or cat cracker oils.
• The principle process can be thought of the following steps:
(i) feedstock heating and vaporization,
(ii) thermal decomposition of the hydrocarbon into small
carbon fragments and hydrogen,
(iii) growth of these fragments into the carbon black
particles and aggregates with further hydrogen formation.
The Furnace Black Process
• The furnace black process is the most modern process for the
manufacture of carbon black today. It is a continuous process
in a closed reactor system and therefore is flexible,
economical, and less polluting.
• The gaseous or liquid fuel is completely converted with air in
the combustion chamber of the reactor to combustion off-gas
with temperatures ranging from 1,200 C to 1,800 C.
• In the mixing zone, the preheated feedstock is injected in the
hot off-gas before entering in the reaction zone of the reactor
where the atomization and vaporization of the feedstock are
completed.
• Thermal decomposition (pyrolysis) of the feedstock and the
carbon black growth occur in the reaction zone.
Silicas
• The precipitated and fumed silicas used as fillers are very
small particle, high specific surface area, forms of
amorphous silica (SiO2).
• The precipitated forms are made by precipitation
processes from (aqueous) solution, while the fumed forms
are made by gas phase (“combustion”) processes.
Precipitated Silicas
• The precipitated products are less costly to produce than
the fumed ones and so find more widespread application.
• Originally only one type of precipitated silica was
recognized; today this has developed into two distinct
classes: conventional and easy or higher dispersing
types.
• Precipitated silicas are produced by reacting a sodium
silicate solution with an acid, usually sulfuric acid. The
sodium silicate is usually produced by reacting sand with
sodium carbonate (soda ash) to produce sodium silicate.
• After the reaction is complete, the product is separated by
filtration, washed, dried, and milled.
Fumed Silica
• Fumed silica is a specialized, high-price, niche product,
and its main polymer use is as a reinforcing filler for
silicone elastomers.
• Like the precipitated products, it is amorphous and with a
very small particle size. But it is less aggregated and has
a more inert surface. This surface has a lower hydroxyl
content and much less adsorbed water.
• The fumed silica formed by “burning” silicon tetrachloride
in a hydrogen/oxygen flame. The actual reaction is really
hydrolysis rather than oxidation.
Process of fumed silica
• The starting raw material is sand, which is converted to silicon
metal and then to silicon tetrachloride used for combustion.
• Silicon tetrachloride can be distilled to remove impurities. The
combustion process has to be well controlled to produce the
desired particle size and degree of aggregation.
Barites
• Barites are the most common barium minerals, found in
pure form having chemical formula BaSO4.
• Barium sulfate, widely used in industry and in medical
applications, originates from natural barites and synthetic
materials.
• The simplest method of processing includes grinding and
dry classification. Finer products are obtained by
concentration, wet grinding, bleaching, and classification.
• The product of highest quality is blanc fixe (permanent
white). It is produced from the reaction between barium
carbonate and sulfuric acid.
Lithopones
• Lithopone is a mixture of inorganic compound, widely
used as a white pigment powder.
• Lithopone is an intimate mixture of barium sulphate and
zinc sulphide precipitated from a solution of barium
sulphide and zinc sulphate.
• Most commonly precipitation is effected by combining
equimolar amounts of zinc sulfate and barium sulfide:
BaS + ZnSO4→ ZnS · BaSO4
Natural Fibers
• Natural fibres (or fibers) come from natural sources;
cellulose from plants and protein from animals. Wool,
cotton and linen are examples of natural fibres.
• Natural plant fibres are harvested, cleaned, and
separated from seeds or from a stiff inner core. You can
still recognise that these prepared cellulose fibres come
from a particular plant.
Banana Fibers
• Banana plant or plantain plant not only gives the delicious
fruit but it also provides fiber, the banana fiber. Banana
fiber is natural fiber.
• Banana fiber, a ligno-cellulosic fiber, obtained from the
pseudo-stem of banana plant, is a bast fiber with relatively
good mechanical properties. Banana plant is a large
perennial herb with leaf sheaths that form pseudo stem.
• Appearance of banana fiber is similar to that of bamboo
fiber and ramie fiber, but its fineness and spinnability is
better than the two. The chemical composition of banana
fiber is cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. It is highly
strong fiber. It has smaller elongation.
Extraction of Fibers
• Initially the banana plant sections were cut from the main stem
of the plant and then rolled lightly to remove the excess
moisture.
• Impurities in the rolled fibers such as pigments, broken fibers,
coating of cellulose etc. were removed manually by means of
comb, and then the fibers were cleaned and dried.
• A special machine was designed and developed for the
extraction of banana fibers in a mechanically automated
manner.
• The fiber extraction using this technique could be performed
simply by placing a cleaned part of the banana stem on the
fixed platform of the machine, and clamped at the ends by
jaws. This eliminated relative movement of the stem and
avoided premature breakage of the fibers. This was followed by
cleaning and drying of the fibers in a chamber at 200 C for
three hours.
Coconut Fiber
• Coconut fiber is one of the natural fibers abundantly available in
tropical regions, and is extracted from the husk of coconut fruit.
Coconut fiber is extracted from the outer shell of a coconut.
• There are generally two types of coconut fiber. These types are
categorized on the basis of age.
• 1. Brown fiber: Brown fibres are extracted from matured
coconuts. Brown fibers are thick, strong and have high abrasion
resistance.
• 2. White fiber: White fibers extracted from immature coconuts. White
fibers are smoother and finer, but also weake
Extraction
• Firstly the fruits are harvested from tree and then husk is found
from it. The fiber from the husk is extracted on a commercial
scale, either by natural retting process or by mechanical
decortication.
• Retting is a curing process during which the husks are kept in
an environment that encourages the action of naturally
occurring microbes. This action partially decomposes the
husk's pulp, allowing it to be separated into coir fibers and a
residue called coir pith. Freshwater retting is used for fully ripe
coconut husks, and saltwater retting is used for green husks.
• For freshwater retting, ripe husks are buried in pits dug along
riverbanks, immersed in water-filled concrete tanks, or suspended by
nets in a river and weighted to keep them submerged. The husks
typically soak at least six months.
• For saltwater retting, green husks are soaked in seawater or artificially
salinated fresh water. Often this is accomplished by placing them in
pits along riverbanks near the ocean, where tidal action alternately
covers them with sea water and rinses them with river water.
• After retting, the husks are taken out of water and
washed. Outer skin peeled of, placed on wooden blocks
and beaten with a wooden mallet for separating the fibers
from the pith. After fibers are separated from the pith,
these are cleaned and then spread on shade for drying.
The fibers spread for drying are occasionally beaten and
tossed up with poles to remove the remnants of pith and
impurities still adhering to the fiber.
• Spinning is produced either by wheel spinning or hand
spinning or mechanized spinning. Handspun yarn is soft
and the twist and thickness are even. Wheel spun yarn
has a hard twist; it is stronger and more uniform in size
and twist than handspun yarn.
Sisal Fiber
• Sisal Fiber is one of the most widely
used natural fiber and is very easily
cultivated. It is obtain from sisal plant.
The plant, known formally as Agave
sisalana. These plants produce rosettes
of sword-shaped leaves which start out
toothed, and gradually lose their teeth
with maturity.
• Sisal fibre is very long, with an average
length of 0.6 to 1.2 m and it is creamy
white to yellowish in colour. It is coarse
and strong, durable and has the ability
to stretch.
• Each leaf contains a number of long,
straight fibers which can be removed in
a process known as decortication.
Extraction
• The fibre must be extracted as soon as possible after the
leaf has been cut; if the leaf is allowed to dry, the fibre is
easily damaged during the cleaning process.
• To extract the fibre, the leaves need to be crushed and the
fleshy pulp scraped away, a process called decortication.
After this the long fibre needs to be cleaned.
• The decortication is done in factories; the leaves are
crushed between rollers and then beaten by a rotating
wheel with blunt knives. Water is used to clean the fibre
which is then hang on lines to dry.
Glass Fibers
 Glass Fiber is an excellent inorganic non metallic material.

 Glass fiber have good performance such as uninflammability, heat resistance,

electric insulation, high tensile strength & excellent chemical stability.

 It has been more & more widely used in transportation, construction,

environmental protection, petrochemical, electronic & electrical appliances,

machinery, aerospace, nuclear power, weapons & other traditional industries
such as national defense department & high tech sector.
Classification of Glass Fibers

– E-glass – electrical purpose (contain alkali metal oxides less than 1%)

– S or R glass - high strength (contain 0.3% metal oxide)

– M glass- high modulus glass (content 0.60% metal oxide)

– C glass – Chemical resistance glass fiber

– AR Glass – alkali resistance glass fiber

– D glass - low dielectric glass fiber

Crucible Drawing Method
• Boric acid & limestone in a certain proportions loading in the furnace at around
1260°C.
• Molten glass flow through the mechanism built with the ball diameter 15~18 mm for
drawing.
• Temperature of glass liquid is around 1300°C, which outflow from leakage plate or
spinneret at the bottom of crucible by its weight.
• Cooling is taking place with high speed pulling (1000~3000m/min).
Direct Melting Process
 Put the glass batch in to the tank furnace for melting and then pull it directly to a
variety of counts continuous glass fiber.
 Advantages of this method over Crucible drawing method are,
– It omits the process of marble making, simplifies the process & improves the
efficiency.
– Tank furnace has large capacity, high production capacity.
Thank You