FEATURES OF VOLCANIC ROCKS AS MATERIALS FOR POLYMERIC COPOSITES

Abstract

Fillers or reinforcing components are an integral part of composite materials. A classification of composites according to structural features and fineness has been adopted. Ideas about the effect of fillers on the physical, mechanical and operational characteristics of composite materials and products have been defined and are constantly being deepened.

In this regard, the use of volcanic rocks as fillers is noteworthy. The prospects for the use of certain types of volcanic rocks as disperse fillers of polymer composites are justified by their significant distribution and accumulation of fine fractions of screenings as waste during their extraction and processing. At the same time, the achievement of the effectiveness of such raw materials requires a deepening of ideas about the composition and physico-chemical properties, in the direction of which this work has been done.

Physical and chemical studies in terms of evaluating the suitability of volcanic rocks (perlite, zeolite, andesite) as ingredients of polymer composite materials made it possible to obtain quantitative data on their chemical and mineralogical composition, hydrophilic-lyophilic balance and energy state of their surface.

The interpretation of the obtained results concerning the potential interaction of the studied materials with polymeric binders is given taking into account the above features of their composition, structure and quantitative IR spectroscopy data in terms of structure-forming bonds Si–O–Si, S –O–Al, hydroxyl groups and adsorbed water.

These features indicate the possibility of choosing volcanic rocks as fillers for polymer composites with the required lyophilic-lyophobic balance and energy state of their surface and providing an unlimited level of interaction with polymer binders as a factor in shaping the structure and properties of composites.