Fillers—Often Forgotten, Highly Important

Fillers sometimes play second fiddle to resins in the composites industry, but two savvy professionals trumpeted their importance at COMPOSITES 2010.

Bob Baker, technical service director at Huber Engineered Materials, and Gary Rex, senior research scientist at J.M. Huber Corp., led a session at COMPOSITES 2010 about the vital role fillers play in the industry.

They discussed common and uncommon fillers that are used in developing the composites matrix. Filler chemistry, particle shape and size, and even location of where fillers are mined contribute to final part quality, they explained.

Baker talked extensively about the prevalence of calcium carbonate in everyday life, underscoring the point that fillers are integral ingredients in applications ranging from homes to shoes, but often go underappreciated—even by composites professionals.

To help educate the audience, he presented a quick-hitting science class of sorts, explaining where fillers such as calcium carbonate, talc and others come from, what their physical properties are (hardness, opacity, etc.) how they react differently with other materials and where they’re commonly used.

Rex spoke about the utility and value of ATH, a critical material in the production of aluminum metal, a raw material for production of alumina chemicals and a flame retardant for polymers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Manufacturing and Processes, Materials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.