Effects of red mud on rheological, crystalline, and mechanical properties of red mud/ PBAT composites

This work presents the potential use of red mud (RM), which is a waste of industrial alumina, as a filler of a biodegradable polymer, poly(butylene adipate‐ co ‐terephthalate) (PBAT), to prepare environment friendly composite materials (RM/PBATs). The rheological properties and crystallization behavior of RM/PBAT composites with different contents of RM (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt%) were investigated in detail. After incorporating of RM, the crystalline temperature of PBAT was greatly improved. When the content of RM was 30 wt%, the crystalline temperature was up to 96.0°C which widened its' use. The rheological properties of the composites such as the storage modulus, loss modulus, and viscosity as well as the melting and crystalline temperature of the composites were also increased, whereas the crystallinity was slightly decreased with the increasing of RM. The prepared composite is expected in the future to be used for packaging materials. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the dispersion of RM in the PBAT matrix which had direct effect on the above properties. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:2001–2007, 2016. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers