Endowing polymers with improved mechanical properties by functional fillers is a continuously pursued topic. Although composites with different filler-improved properties have been reported, the inevitably raised costs often restrict the practical uses of these products. Herein, we report the utilization of the waste asphaltene sands (AS) produced from the coal-oil co-processing process as a functional filler to toughen the thermoplastic elastomers represented by SEBS. The FT-IR, XRD and elemental analysis showed that AS is a mixture consisting of organic compounds and inorganic minerals from the coal. After filling AS into SEBS, the inorganic minerals act as hard cores to strengthen the matrix while the surrounding aromatic and alkane compounds ensure a good compatibility of AS with SEBS. Composites with altered contents and sizes of AS particles were prepared by solvent processing and subsequent hot pressing. The optical microscopy images show a good dispersion of the AS particles in the SEBS substrate. As a result, the tensile strength of the composites are notably enhanced from 6.88 to 17.23 MPa after loading 20 wt% AS. Thus, the AS waste is very promising as the new and successful filler in developing polymers with improved mechanical properties and simultaneously reduced production cost.

中文翻译：

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具有改进机械性能的聚苯乙烯-聚（乙烯-丁烯）-聚苯乙烯/沥青质砂复合弹性体

通过功能性填料赋予聚合物改进的机械性能是一个不断追求的主题。尽管已经报道了具有不同填料改进性能的复合材料，但不可避免的成本增加往往限制了这些产品的实际用途。在此，我们报告了利用煤油协同加工过程中产生的废沥青砂 (AS) 作为功能性填料来增韧以 SEBS 为代表的热塑性弹性体的情况。FT-IR、XRD 和元素分析表明，AS 是由煤中的有机化合物和无机矿物组成的混合物。将AS填充到SEBS中后，无机矿物作为硬核加强基体，而周围的芳烃和烷烃化合物则保证了AS与SEBS的良好相容性。通过溶剂加工和随后的热压制备具有改变的 AS 颗粒含量和尺寸的复合材料。光学显微镜图像显示 AS 颗粒在 SEBS 基材中的良好分散。结果，在加载 20 wt% AS 后，复合材料的拉伸强度从 6.88 MPa 显着提高到 17.23 MPa。因此，AS 废料作为一种新型且成功的填料在开发具有改进机械性能并同时降低生产成本的聚合物方面是非常有前途的。