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In this paper, carbon dioxide (CO2) is used to form a high-density microcellular thermoplastic foam structure in order to reduce polymer consumption and facilitate dispersion of Mg (OH)2 and nanoclay fillers. A twin-screw extruder system was used to predistribute inorganic fillers into the ABS polymer, resulting in composite ABS/filler pellets. This is followed by the use of a single-screw extruder wherein supercritical carbon dioxide is introduced into the formulation. Finally, the resulting foam ABS/filler/CO2 pellets are injection- molded into test samples. The structure and properties of the composites are characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Furthermore, ABS/Mg(OH)2/nanoclay polymer composite samples are tested to obtain their yield and tensile strengths, elastic moduli, yield and tensile elongations, izod impact strengths, hardness values, heat deflection temperatures (HDT), Vicat softening points, and melt flow indices (MFI). These test...

Mechanical properties of metal-polymer matrix composites were investigated experimentally. High density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) were used as the polymer matrix and Fe powder in 5, 10, and 15 vol% was used as the metal. The modulus of elasticity, yield and tensile strength, % elongation, Izod notched impact strength, Shore D hardness, and fracture surfaces of the composites were determined. It was found that vol% Fe reduced the Izod impact strength of HDPE much more than that of PP and PS, while Fe powder increased the hardness of HDPE more than that of PP and PS. Among the composites, PS-Fe composites had higher yield, tensile strength and modulus of elasticity than HDPE-Fe and PP-Fe composites. However, % elongation of PS-Fe composites was lower than that of the other composites. In addition, HDPE- and PP-based composites exhibited ductile type fracture, while PS-Fe composites exhibited brittle type fracture.