Ultrasonicated Dolomite as Potential Reinforcing Mineral Filler in Polymer and Copolymer-Based Composites

Abstract

Polymer composite is one of the well-known fields in materials science and engineering, thus this class of material is widely explored by researchers from all over the world. Polymer composite is utilized in many industries such as packaging, electronics, aerospace and biomedical products. Inorganic materials are commonly used as filler to reinforce the polymeric materials due to their superior mechanical properties and thermal stability. Dolomite is one of the inorganic materials with great potential to be employed as filler to improve the properties of polymer composites. Based on literature studies, the addition of dolomite as filler creates a positive impact on the mechanical, physical and thermal properties of polymers. However, further research and investigation need to be done so that dolomite can be optimized as filler in the polymer composite system. This chapter reviews and summarizes the findings collected from several published works on polymer composites with dolomite as filler. Furthermore, our recent work on the polyethylene-co-vinyl acetate (PEVA) composite with dolomite filler is reported at the end of this chapter. Results indicate that the use of ultrasonicated dolomite can improve the mechanical properties of the PEVA composite, revealing the great potential of this mineral filler in reinforcing the copolymer matrix.