TGA/DSC studies of marine coral reinforced polymer composites

Marine corals are mainly composed of calcium carbonate and organic matrix, which can be used as filler in polymer composites thus consequential in waste utilization from aquaculture by-products. In the present study, epoxy resin (EP) matrix composites were prepared by reinforcing raw cuttlebone particles (CB), heat treated cuttlebone particles (HB) as well as commercial calcium carbonate particles (CC) at 10 wt%. Different forms of reinforcement materials were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to confirm the polymorph transformation. Thermal stability and glass transition temperature of EP, EP/CB, EP/HB and EP/CC composites were investigated by TGA and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). EP/CC composite had highest glass transition temperature than EP, EP/CB and EP/HB composites, but EP/CB and EP/HB had good thermal stability than EP and EP/CC composites.