Preparation and Sound Insulation Properties of Thermoplastic Elastomer Composites with CaCO 3 Filler
Composites of ceramic powders and an elastomer based matrix were prepared by mixing powders with polyethylene and polypropylene elastomers, and their mechanical and sound insulation properties were measured. powders with 0.7 and 35 particle size were added to elastomers up to 80 wt% Scanning electron microscopy photographs showed uniform distribution of the powders in the matrix. While density and surface hardness increased, melt index, tensile strength and elongation of the composites decreased as the amount of added powders increased. As more powders were added sound transmission loss of the composites increased owing to the increase of density. Addition of 0.7 sized powders resulted in a slightly higher transmission loss than the addition of 35 sized powders because of the increased interface area between the elastomer matrix and the powders. Composites with a polyethylene matrix showed higher transmission loss than those with a polypropylene matrix because the tensile strength and hardness of the polyethylene based composites were low and their elongation was high.