Preparation and characterization of ethylene-butene copolymer (EBC)/mica composites

Composites of ethylene-butene copolymer (EBC) with various amounts of untreated mica and silane modified mica were prepared by the melt blending technology. The morphological, thermal, dielectric and mechanical properties of composites were investigated. The results showed that both of raw mica and treated mica were uniformly dispersed in the polymer matrix. Attributed to the heterogeneous nucleating effect of mica, the crystallization ability of composites was increased and the crystals of the polymer matrix were arranged more closely. With increasing the filler content, the thermal stabilities of composites were improved, whose increasing rate was decreased when the filler content was up to a certain amount. The dielectric properties of samples were influenced by the filler content, surface treatment of mica and the testing frequency. The mechanical properties showed that the tensile strength and elongation at break of composites were not decreased apparently until the filler content was up to 30 wt%. And the hardness and modulus at 100% elongation of samples were increased with the increase in the filler content, ascribed to the reinforcing effect of mica.