中国有色金属学报(英文版)
Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
| Vol. 24 No. 1 July 2014 |
（1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon, Korea;
2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha Technical College, Korea;
3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Auckland, New Zealand;
4. Composite Research Center, Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), Korea）
Abstract:Aluminium trihydrate (ATH) is being extensively added to polypropylene (PP) to make a fire retardant composite. Blends of PP/ATH composite are more fire resistant as compared to pure PP. Percentage proportion of both the constituents in the final composite depends upon the application. Improvement in the fire retardant properties of such composites have been studied and published in literature but effects on mechanical strength have not been addressed. The effect of concentration of ATH on the strength of PP/ATH composite was presented. Thetensile, flexural and fracture properties were studied and discussed. Experimental tests, ASTM analytical formulae and finite element approach were used. It has been found that increase in ATH has an inverse effect on the mechanical strength.
Key words: aluminium trihydrate; polypropylene; composite;fire retardant;fracture toughness; mechanical strength
