This volume offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the major mineral and organic fillers for plastics, their production, structure and properties, as well as their applications in terms of primary and secondary functions. Among other topics, it provides coverage of surface treatments and modifications for enhanced functionality, mixing and incorporation methodologies, an analysis of the parameters affecting filler performance, and a presentation of current and emerging applications. And, it presents a classification of fillers according to modification of specific polymer properties, which will foster an improved understanding of the relationships among processing, structure, and end-use performance of products containing functional fillers, while providing a tool to help identify new market opportunities.

From the Preface: “...The term `filler' is very broad and encompasses a very wide range of materials. We arbitrarily define in this book as fillers a variety of natural or synthetic solid particulates (inorganic, organic) that may be irregular, acicular, fibrous or flakey and are used in most cases in reasonably large volume loadings in plastics, mostly thermoplastics. Continuous fibers or ribbons are not included. Elastomers are also not included in this definition as well as many specialty additives that are used at low concentrations (e.g. pigments, lubricants, catalysts, etc.)...This present volume is not intended to be a handbook listing individual fillers according to their generic chemical structure or name but rather a comprehensive and up-to-date presentation, in a unified fashion, of structure/property/processing relationships in thermoplastic composites containing discontinuous fillers that would help the identification of new markets and applications...”

Target Audience: Engineers, scientists and technologists concerned with polymer composites.

Table of Contents:

Polymers and Fillers:

Polymers and Polymer Composites

Modification of Polymer Mechanical and Rheological Properties with Functional Fillers

Mixing of Fillers with Plastics

Surface Modifiers and Coupling Agents:

Silane Coupling Agents

Titanate Coupling Agents

Functional Polymers and Other Modifiers

Fillers and Their Functions:

Glass Fibers

Mica Flakes

Nanoclays and Their Emerging Markets

Carbon Nanotubes/Nanofibers and Carbon Fibers

Natural Fibers

Talc

Kaolin

Wollastonite

Wood Flour

Calcium Carbonate

Fire Retardants

Conductive and Magnetic Fillers

Surface Property Modifiers

Processing Aids

Glass and Ceramic Spheres

Bioactive Filters

In Situ Generated Fillers: Organic—Inorganic Hybrids

Index