Mechanical and thermal properties of fully green composites from vanillin-based benzoxazine and silane surface modified chopped basalt fibers

By following the rules of green chemistry, a novel composite is developed from a renewable and ecofriendly resource, namely the vanillin. The latter was used as a phenolic precursor for the microwave synthesis of a bio-based benzoxazine resin (Va-BZ). Afterwards, high performance green composites were developed by reinforcing the Va-BZ with various amounts of chopped silane surface modified basalt fibers (BFs). The chemical structure of the Va-BZ monomers was confirmed by 1H NMR and FTIR spectroscopy. The grafting of the silane moiety on the BFs surface was assessed by FTIR and TGA analyses. The autocatalytic ring opening polymerization of the Va-BZ monomers was confirmed by DSC analysis. The mechanical performances of the developed green composites were studied by flexural and tensile investigations. The findings suggested that the maximum amount of 20 wt. BFs afforded the best results, with flexural and tensile strengths of 447 and 460 MPa, respectively. The SEM was used to study the fractured tensile surfaces and elucidated the toughening mechanism. Meanwhile, the TGA showed that the introduction of the BFs markedly improved the thermal stability of the benzoxazine matrix. Finally, the gamma rays shielding effectiveness was studied and revealed the highly benefic role of the BFs. For instance, a 1 cm thick Va-BZ polymer only showed a 6% gamma rays screening ratio, the latter was improved to 18.4% for the composite made of 20 wt.% of treated BFs. Overall, this study confirmed that greener approaches can also result in high performance composite satisfying the needs of exigent applications.