Environmental assessment and mechanical properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) reinforced with fly ash filler

Fly ash is typically used as reinforcing filler in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) to develop lightweight composites. However, study on the effect of particle size on mechanical properties of thermoplastic-based fly ash products is very limited. The information is vital in developing the products for high performance application. This study compares mechanical properties of fly ash reinforced thermoplastic products made using different particle size. The products were mixed and cured using a hot press machine, before underwent several mechanical tests and environmental assessment. The results show that as the size of the fly ash particle increases, the tensile and flexural properties of the sample decrease. This is due to formation of agglomerations as a result of difficulties of achieving homogeneous dispersion of bigger particle size. In contrast, the environmental assessment result shows that the ABS reinforced by larger particle size of fly ash shows less global warming impact because of less electrical energy used during sieving process. Findings of this study have provided an important insight on the simultaneous consideration of mechanical properties and global warming impact of fly ash based thermoplastic products.