Red mud/polypropylene composite with mechanical and thermal properties

Polypropylene (PP) based composites containing 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 50 wt% red mud are granulated by twin-screw extrusion and injection molding. Their mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength and modulus, impact strength, and thermal properties are determined. After filling with red mud, the flexural strength and modulus, thermal deformation temperature, and Vicat softening temperature increase, whereas the impact strength decreases with increasing red mud contents. The maximum tensile strength is observed from the PP doped with 15 wt% red mud. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to investigate the dispersion of red mud in the PP matrix. © The Author(s) 2011 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.