Development of the Polyester / Kota Stone Dust Composite and their Characterization

Industries' huge amount of solid waste is a prime concern as it causes air, water, and soil degradation. The only solution is to recycle the waste. The present work explores the possibility of utilising a byproduct of the Kota stone industry i.e.Kota stone dust (KSD) as a reinforcing phase in polyester (matrix phase) to develop a novel polymer composite. Here, micro-sized KSD is incorporated in polyester resin at different proportions and tested for its physical, mechanical and thermal behaviour. The strength of the polyester resin under tensile and flexural loading improves when micro-particulates are added up to 25 wt. % and 30 wt. % respectively with the highest values of 66.3 MPa and 72.8 MPa. The highest compressive strength obtained is 102.7 MPa and hardness in Shore-D numbers is 83.7 for 40 wt. % KSD. Also, KSD in a polyester matrix significantly improves the continuous phase's glass transition temperature (Tg), whereas the thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) reduces. The maximum Tg recorded is 97.23 oC, whereas, CTE reduces to 55.1× 10-6 /oC for maximum filler loading. A slight improvement in the heat conduction capability from 0.287 W/m-K for neat polyester to 0.363 W/m-K for polyester/40 wt. % KSD is also observed.