Stearic acid coating on circulating fluidized bed combustion fly ashes and its effect on the mechanical performance of polymer composites

The aim of this work was to test circulating fluidized bed combustion fly ashes (CFAs) for its potential to be utilized in polymer composites manufacturing to improve its toughness. CFAs was coated by stearic acid and used in the composite of polypropylene/ethylene vinyl acetate/high density polyethylene (PP/EVA/HDPE) by molding process method. The resulting coated and uncoated CFAs were fully characterized by particle size analyzer, contact angles, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis (TGA/DTA), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The stearic acid coated onto the surface of CFAs particles in the physical and chemical ways, and the total clad ratio reached 2.05% by measuring TGA/DTA curve. The percentage of CFAs particles focused to a narrow range 2–4 μm and the median mean size was 3.2 μm more than uncoated CFAs. The properties of hydrophobic and dispersive of CFAs particles improved and original activity was reserved after stearic acid coating. The stearic acid was verified as a coupling agent by how much effect it had on the mechanical properties. It showed the elongation at break of PP/EVA/HDPE reinforced with 15 wt% coated CFAs (c-CFAs) was 80.20% and higher than that of the uncoated. The stearic acid treatment of CFAs is a very promising approach to improve the mechanical strength due to the incorporation of stearic acid on the CFAs surface, and hence, further enhances the potential for recycling CFAs as a suitable filler material in polymer composites.