Assessment of the Mechanical Properties of Marble and Granite Dust-High Impact Polystyrene Composites
Mohamed Mohamed Karbous, Ayman Abd El Wahab, Ramadan El Gamasy, Mohamed Hazem Abdellatif
Abstract
Experimental work has been carried out to study the effect of adding marble and Granite dust (MGD) on the mechanical properties of high impact polystyrene (HIPS). The selected wt.% of MGD was 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60. MGD was chemically treated by adding 2 wt.% stearic acid in an attempt to prevent agglomeration of the dust particles. Mechanical tests were conducted according to the ASTM standards to assess the bending strength and impact strength for both treated and untreated MGD-HIPS composites and also, Vickers hardness test was carried out. SEM analysis was also performed to interpret the results achieved throughout different tests. Surface modification of MGD particles using stearic acid caused better dispersion of MGD particles which lead to reduced agglomerations and this was observed through the SEM micrographs. Bending and impact strength of MGD-HIPS composite decreased by the increase of MGD content in the treated and untreated cases. On the other hand the increase of MGD content resulted in the increase of the surface hardness of treated and untreated MGD-HIPS composites. Surface treatment of the MGD particles using stearic acid had a greater effect on the surface hardness of the composite as the treatment allowed the production of a 70 wt.% MGD-HIPS composite plate which lead to an increase in the surface hardness of the composite by 130% compared to pure HIPS.