Epoxy Composites with Post-Production Gray Cast-Iron Powders

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Waste Management
• Polymer Composites

Background:

• Machining cast-iron castings generates significant waste (up to 5% of casting weight) as cast-iron chips.
• Serial production exacerbates environmental concerns due to the large scale of this post-production waste.
• Recycling these chips into valuable materials is crucial for sustainable manufacturing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple, economical method for utilizing gray cast-iron chips.
• To produce small structural elements for water supply fittings from recycled chips.
• To investigate the properties of epoxy composites reinforced with gray cast-iron powder.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing waste gray cast-iron chips (grain size < 0.075 mm) as filler in epoxy resin.
• Employing vacuum-assisted casting for composite fabrication.
• Testing morphological, mechanical, and corrosion properties of the resulting composites with 65% filler content.

Main Results:

• The optimal curing conditions (130 °C for 90 min) yielded composites with tensile strength of 28.35 MPa, flexural strength of 55.4 MPa, and compressive strength of 53.8 MPa.
• Composites exhibited excellent thermal resistance.
• Compared to gray cast iron, the composites showed over 2.5 times lower weight and more than 3 times lower corrosion rate in tap water.

Conclusions:

• Waste gray cast-iron chips can be effectively repurposed into high-performance epoxy composites.
• These composites offer significant advantages in weight reduction and corrosion resistance.
• The developed method provides a sustainable and cost-effective solution for managing cast-iron machining waste in the production of water supply fittings.