The influence of structural order of anthracite fillers on the curing behavior, morphology, and dynamic mechanical thermal properties of epoxy composites

This article concerns the study of polymer composites with anthracite fillers of various structural order. Raw Svierdlovski anthracite of turbostratic structure and the anthracite thermally treated at 2,000°C of graphite‐like structure were used as fillers of low‐molecular‐weight diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A cross‐linked with aliphatic amine. Two anthracites of extremely different structures were compared to natural graphite that is composed of well‐ordered graphene sheets. Systematic studies of the influence of the structure of anthracite filler on the curing behavior, morphology, dynamic mechanical thermal properties, and thermal stability of epoxy composite were performed. It was found that the structure of anthracite filler affects the cross‐linking reactions of the epoxy matrix as well as the morphology of the composites and their viscoelastic properties. Raw anthracite added to epoxy matrix had a visible effect on the activation energy and differential scanning calorimeter parameters of the curing process, in contrast to the epoxy matrix modified with anthracite heated at 2,000°C. On the contrary, the effect of anthracite on dynamic mechanical behavior of composites is more evident when the anthracite prepared at 2,000°C was used as a filler. POLYM. COMPOS., 36:336–347, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers