Mineral water plastic and preparation method thereof
By constructing a ternary composite network from natural minerals, nanocellulose, and acrylamide, and combining it with in-situ polymerization and non-solvent-induced phase separation processes, mineral water plastics with high mineral content under mild conditions were prepared. This solved the problem of poor molding and processability, and achieved high-performance and recyclable mineral water plastics suitable for diverse engineering applications.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2026-03-16
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-26
AI Technical Summary
Existing mineral-based composite materials have poor molding and processing properties at high mineral content, making it difficult to achieve efficient densification. Furthermore, they are difficult to reprocess and recycle under low energy consumption conditions, thus failing to meet the diverse engineering application needs.
A ternary composite network was constructed using natural minerals, nanocellulose, and acrylamide. Combined with in-situ polymerization and non-solvent-induced phase separation and mild densification processes, mineral water plastics were prepared under mild conditions, achieving stable molding and reversible control of high mineral content systems.
It achieves stable molding of high mineral content systems under mild conditions, improves the mechanical properties and flame retardant characteristics of materials, and also has plasticity and recyclability. It solves the problems of difficult molding and poor processability of traditional mineral-based materials, and is suitable for diverse engineering application needs.
Smart Images
Figure CN122080561A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This application relates to the field of new materials, specifically to a mineral water plastic and its preparation method. Background Technology
[0002] Traditional plastics, due to their significant advantages such as light weight, convenient molding and processing, and low production costs, are widely used in many fields such as packaging, electronics, automobile manufacturing, and daily necessities. However, these materials have many inherent defects in actual service and environmental adaptability, which have become key issues restricting their sustainable application. In terms of mechanical properties, traditional plastics are prone to creep and aging under complex stress or long-term use, resulting in a continuous decline in mechanical properties. Some plastics are also prone to brittle fracture under impact loads, making it difficult to meet the mechanical requirements of high-end engineering scenarios. In terms of safety performance, most traditional plastics are highly flammable and easily produce molten droplets when exposed to flames, further intensifying combustion and resulting in poor fire safety. In terms of environmental performance, traditional plastics have extremely long degradation cycles in the natural environment, and recycling technologies are limited, easily causing long-term cumulative pollution and leading to serious ecological problems.
[0003] Natural mineral materials possess high hardness, excellent wear resistance, good heat resistance, and flame retardant properties, making them an important source of materials for replacing traditional plastics or improving the overall performance of plastics. Mineral-based hydroplastics, prepared with natural minerals as the core component, have become a research hotspot in the field of composite materials. Mineral-based hydroplastics can leverage the inherent properties of natural minerals to effectively compensate for the shortcomings of traditional plastics in terms of hardness, wear resistance, flame retardancy, and dimensional stability. Furthermore, by combining the adhesive and moldability of organic polymers, they hold the promise of achieving comprehensive performance improvements while retaining the processing characteristics of plastics. This not only meets the comprehensive performance requirements of engineering applications but also aligns with the trend of green and low-carbon material development, demonstrating excellent application potential in the field of replacing traditional engineering plastics.
[0004] However, the preparation and application of existing mineral-based plastics and related mineral-based composite materials still suffer from many technical defects that urgently need to be addressed, making it difficult to achieve industrialization and engineering implementation. Firstly, the molding and densification of existing mineral-based materials largely rely on processes such as high-temperature sintering, hot pressing, or high-temperature curing. These processes not only consume high energy and have stringent equipment requirements, but also significantly limit the freedom of shape and size molding, failing to meet diverse engineering application needs. Secondly, in systems with high mineral content, materials are prone to poor fluidity and weak interfacial bonding between inorganic minerals and organic phases, resulting in numerous pores and structural defects. This leads to insufficient material toughness, a narrow processing window, and difficulty in achieving a balance between high mineral load and good processing performance. Thirdly, most existing mineral-based dense materials are difficult to reprocess and recycle under low-energy conditions, limiting their application in green manufacturing and recycling scenarios. In addition, existing mineral-based composite materials with biomimetic structures such as mother-of-pearl still have problems such as difficulty in uniformly loading high mineral content, poor molding and processing and defect control. Moreover, the materials tend to be irreversibly shaped after curing, and cannot be reversibly shaped or re-molded under mild conditions. It is difficult to simultaneously take into account the hardness, wear resistance and flame retardancy of mineral materials and the plasticity and processability of plastic materials.
[0005] Therefore, developing a mineral-water plastic system and its preparation method that can be prepared under mild conditions, maintains good processability even with high mineral content, and combines the excellent properties of mineral materials with the processability and recyclability of plastic materials is key to solving current technical problems and promoting the engineering application of mineral-based composite materials. It has important practical significance and engineering application value. Summary of the Invention
[0006] The purpose of this application is to provide a mineral water plastic material that has mild preparation conditions, excellent mechanical properties, flame retardant properties, and recyclability.
[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted in this application is as follows: a method for preparing a mineral water plastic includes the following preparation steps: S1: dispersing natural minerals and nanocellulose in water to obtain a first dispersion; S2: adding acrylamide monomer, initiator and crosslinking agent to the first dispersion and reacting under heating conditions to obtain a composite hydrogel; S3: immersing the composite hydrogel in a first solvent to trigger a non-solvent-induced phase separation process, and then densifying the material to obtain the mineral water plastic.
[0008] As a preferred embodiment, the natural mineral accounts for 30% to 90% of the total mass of the solid reactants in the mineral hydroplastic.
[0009] Alternatively, the natural mineral is a silicate mineral or a carbonate mineral.
[0010] As another preferred option, the silicate mineral is any one or a combination of multiple of mica, montmorillonite, kaolinite, illite, chlorite, or vermiculite.
[0011] As another preferred option, the carbonate mineral is any one or a combination of multiple of the following: calcite, magnesite, siderite, rhodochrosite, zirconia, aragonite, strontium carbonate, cerussite, dolomite, malachite, or azurite.
[0012] As another preferred option, the first solvent is any one or a combination of more of methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, n-propanol, n-butanol, acetone or dimethylformamide.
[0013] As another preferred embodiment, the nanofibers account for 1% to 5% of the mass of the natural minerals, and the amount of acrylamide monomer added is 10% to 70% of the total mass of the solid reactants of the mineral hydroplastic.
[0014] As another preferred embodiment, the mass concentration of the first solvent is 20%~100%, the immersion time of the composite hydrogel in the first solvent is 0.5~24 h, the immersion temperature is 10~30 ℃, the densification treatment temperature is 10~50 ℃, and the densification treatment pressure is 30~100 MPa.
[0015] This application also provides a mineral water plastic, which is prepared by the above-described method.
[0016] Further preferably, the gel or solid state of the mineral water plastic can be adjusted by a solvent.
[0017] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of this application are as follows: (1) This application constructs a ternary composite network by natural silicate minerals, polyacrylamide and nanocellulose, and combines in-situ polymerization, non-solvent-induced phase separation and mild densification processes to achieve stable molding of a system with a high mineral content of 30% to 90% under mild conditions of 10 to 50 °C. It does not require high-energy processes such as high-temperature sintering and hot pressing, thus reducing production energy consumption and equipment requirements. At the same time, it improves the molding freedom of product shape and size, and adapts to diverse engineering application needs. (2) The mineral water plastic prepared in this application achieves a balance between high mineral load and excellent processing and mechanical properties. It relies on natural minerals to give the material high hardness, wear resistance, heat resistance and excellent flame retardancy. It also strengthens the interfacial bonding and inhibits brittleness through the synergistic effect of polyacrylamide and nanocellulose. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength, bending stiffness and Shore hardness of the material far exceed those of pure polyacrylamide and traditional inorganic and wood materials. It also breaks through the technical defects of insufficient toughness and narrow processing window of traditional high mineral content materials. (3) The mineral water plastic of this application has the plasticity and recyclability of plastic. It can achieve reversible adjustment of performance and switching of processing window through water content control. Waste materials can also be recycled and regenerated and remolded through water swelling and non-solvent induced phase separation. It solves the problem that traditional mineral-based dense materials are difficult to process with low energy consumption, which is in line with the development trend of green and low carbon materials. At the same time, the material has excellent flame retardant properties, which essentially makes up for the inherent defect of poor flame retardancy of traditional plastics. Attached Figure Description
[0018] Figure 1 This is a physical image of the mineral water plastic prepared in Example 1 of this application.
[0019] Figure 2 The images show actual mineral water plastics prepared in Examples 5 to 9 of this application.
[0020] Figure 3 This is a photograph of a processed product of the mineral water plastic of this application.
[0021] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the reversible plasticity of the mineral water plastic in this application.
[0022] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the reprocessing performance of mineral water plastics in this application.
[0023] Figure 6 This is a scanning electron microscope image of the cross-section of the mineral water plastic prepared in Example 1 of this application.
[0024] Figure 7 These are scanning electron microscope images of the cross-sections of mineral water plastics prepared in Examples 5 to 9 of this application.
[0025] Figure 8 The tensile strength test results are for the materials prepared in Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Example 1 of this application.
[0026] Figure 9 The results are the bending stiffness test results of the materials prepared in Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Example 1 of this application.
[0027] Figure 10 The tensile strength test results are for the materials prepared in Examples 5 to 9 and Comparative Example 1 of this application.
[0028] Figure 11 The results are the bending stiffness test results of the materials prepared in Examples 5 to 9 and Comparative Example 1 of this application.
[0029] Figure 12 The results are the bending stiffness test results of the materials prepared in Examples 1, 2 to 5 of this application.
[0030] Figure 13The results are based on the Shore hardness test of the materials prepared in Examples 1 and 6 of this application.
[0031] Figure 14 The flame retardant performance test results of the small house constructed from the mineral water plastic prepared in Example 1 of this application.
[0032] Figure 15 The flame retardant performance test results are for the mineral water plastics prepared in Examples 5 to 9 of this application.
[0033] Figure 16 The limiting oxygen index of the mineral water plastic prepared in Example 1 of this application. Detailed Implementation
[0034] The present application will be further described below with reference to specific embodiments. It should be noted that, without conflict, the various embodiments or technical features described below can be arbitrarily combined to form new embodiments.
[0035] The terms “comprising” and “having”, and any variations thereof, in the specification and claims of this application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, for example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units that are explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not explicitly listed or that are inherent to such process, method, product, or device.
[0036] This application also provides a method for preparing mineral water plastic, comprising the following preparation steps: S1: Natural minerals and nanocellulose are dispersed in water to prepare the first dispersion; S2: Acrylamide monomer, initiator and crosslinking agent are added to the first dispersion, and in-situ polymerization is carried out under heating conditions to obtain composite hydrogel; S3: The composite hydrogel is immersed in the first solvent to trigger a non-solvent-induced phase separation process, and then the material is densified to obtain the mineral water plastic of this application.
[0037] In some embodiments, the natural mineral is a silicate mineral, preferably a layered silicate mineral sheet. Specifically, it can be at least one or a combination of multiple selected from mica, montmorillonite, kaolinite, illite, chlorite, and vermiculite.
[0038] In other embodiments, the natural mineral may also be a carbonate mineral, specifically at least one or a combination of multiple of the following: calcite, magnesite, siderite, rhodochrosite, zirconia, aragonite, strontium carbonate, cerussite, dolomite, malachite, and azurite.
[0039] In the mineral water plastic of this application, natural minerals are used as the main filler and source of inorganic skeleton. Under high filling conditions, the minerals serve as the main load-bearing framework, which has the function of stabilizing dimensions and also endows the mineral water plastic with excellent heat resistance and flame retardant properties.
[0040] The mineral water plastic of this application uses polyacrylamide to construct a polymer network, forming a continuous bonding phase in situ between minerals. It achieves a stable connection between mineral sheets through multi-point hydrogen bonding, chain entanglement and interfacial adsorption, which significantly improves the overall molding strength of the mineral water plastic material and inhibits its brittle cracking behavior during drying / loading.
[0041] This application also adds nanocellulose to the mineral water plastic structure, which can serve as a "reinforcing-bridging" unit and be dispersed in the mineral / polymer interface and pore structure. Relying on its high aspect ratio and abundant surface hydroxyl groups, it can achieve cross-scale bridging and crack passivation, enhance the bonding of the mineral water plastic interface, and improve crack resistance, impact resistance and wear resistance.
[0042] In some embodiments, the initiator is persulfate. The crosslinking agent is N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide.
[0043] In some embodiments, the first solvent may be any one or a combination of methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, n-propanol, n-butanol, acetone or dimethylformamide.
[0044] In some preferred embodiments, the composite hydrogel is immersed in a first solvent with a mass concentration of 20% to 100%, an immersion temperature of 10 to 30 °C, and an immersion time of 0.5 to 24 h.
[0045] In some embodiments, the solid material is densified under a pressure of 30-100 MPa and a temperature of 10-50 °C.
[0046] This application involves immersing the composite hydrogel in a first solvent, which has the effect of non-solvent-induced phase separation. This first solvent can drive the system to transform from a gel state to a multiphase continuous structure, causing the polymer phase to redistribute on the mineral surface and in the pores. The subsequent densification step further reduces the porosity and improves the efficiency of lamellar stacking and interfacial contact, thereby achieving synergistic optimization of structural densification and mechanical property improvement.
[0047] The first solvent acts as both a plasticizer and a regulating medium in material processing and service: the aqueous state can reduce the yield stress of the system, improve plasticity and processability, and enable the material to obtain a reversible processing window; in the presence of the first solvent, the polymer network shrinks and densifies, thereby increasing the strength and stiffness of the material, and thus realizing the state transformation of high-performance curing molding of mineral water plastics.
[0048] In some embodiments, the mass percentage of natural minerals in the solid reactants of the mineral water plastic is 30% to 90%, the mass percentage of nanocellulose is 1% to 5% of the natural mineral mass, and the mass percentage of acrylamide monomer is 10% to 70% of the solid reactants. The mineral water plastic of this application achieves structural reinforcement and moldability of high-mineral-content systems through a mild process. Through a combined process of "in-situ construction of composite hydrogel - non-solvent-induced phase separation - densification," structural reinforcement and stable molding of the mineral water plastic material can be achieved without high-temperature sintering. It is also suitable for high-filling systems with mineral component content ranging from 30% to 90%.
[0049] This application addresses the key challenges of high-mineral-content materials in mineral-water plastics, such as difficulty in molding, easy cracking, and narrow processing window, and proposes a strategy for the structural construction and performance control of mineral-water plastics. Through a combined process of "in-situ construction of composite hydrogels—solvent-induced phase separation—densification," structural strengthening and moldability of high-mineral-content systems are achieved under mild conditions. Simultaneously, a continuous inorganic framework and organic network are constructed within the material, resulting in mineral-water plastics that possess strength, wear resistance, and flame retardant properties.
[0050] This application also provides a mineral water plastic, which is prepared using the above-described method.
[0051] The mineral water plastic of this application, by constructing a three-dimensional stable network structure of natural minerals, polyacrylamide, and nanocellulose, enables the mineral water plastic to obtain good molding and processing performance and comprehensive mechanical properties even under conditions of high mineral content.
[0052] Meanwhile, through non-solvent-induced phase separation and densification treatment, this application adopts a mild preparation process to achieve material structure strengthening, so that the prepared mineral water plastic has the hardness, wear resistance and flame retardant properties of mineral materials, as well as plasticity and reversible controllability similar to plastic materials.
[0053] The mineral water plastic of this application also has the characteristics of reversible water-controlled molding and swelling reprocessing recycling. The waste mineral water plastic after use can be restored to a gel state by water swelling, and then can be transformed into a hard block again by ethanol-induced phase separation, so as to realize the recycling and regeneration of materials.
[0054] This application constructs an inorganic framework using natural minerals and provides a flame-retardant base. Polyacrylamide forms a continuous bonding network to achieve overall constraint and molding support. Nanocellulose has a reinforcing and bridging effect to improve interfacial bonding and crack resistance, resulting in a material with high strength, high toughness and excellent wear resistance.
[0055] The components of the mineral-water plastic in this application are structurally synergistic; the absence of any component or alteration of any process step will weaken the performance of the mineral-water plastic. Based on the synergistic reinforcement of the natural mineral framework, polymer network, and nanocellulose composite network, the prepared mineral-water plastic achieves significant improvements in comprehensive properties such as strength, wear resistance, and flame retardancy. It can also be recycled through swelling and reprocessing, providing a material and process basis for the application of mineral-water plastics in engineering fields such as structural components, wear-resistant parts, and flame-retardant parts. The performance and processing window of the material can be reversibly adjusted by controlling the water content during processing and service, making it easy to adapt to the needs of different engineering scenarios.
[0056] Example 1 A mineral water plastic is prepared according to the following steps: S1: 14.63 g of mica mineral sheets, 0.37 g of nanocellulose and 85 g of water were mixed to obtain a first dispersion with a solid content of 15%, wherein the amount of nanocellulose was 2.5% of the mass of mica; S2: Add 15 g of acrylamide monomer, 0.96 g of persulfate initiator and 1.3 g of N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide crosslinking agent to the first dispersion, and polymerize in situ at 60 °C for 2 h to obtain a composite hydrogel; S3: The composite hydrogel was immersed in 100% ethanol at 25 °C for 12 h, and then hot-pressed at 100 MPa and 50 °C for 10 h to obtain the mineral water plastic of Example 1.
[0057] Example 2 To prepare a mineral water plastic, step S2 was adjusted as follows: 42.86 g of the first dispersion was taken and 15 g of acrylamide monomer, 0.96 g of persulfate initiator and 1.3 g of N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide crosslinking agent were added, and the mixture was polymerized in situ at 60 °C for 2 h to obtain a composite hydrogel; other preparation steps were consistent with the preparation steps in Example 1 to obtain the mineral water plastic of Example 2.
[0058] Example 3 To prepare a mineral water plastic, the amount of the first dispersion in step S2 was adjusted to 66.67 g, and the other preparation steps were kept consistent with those in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 3.
[0059] Example 4 To prepare a mineral water plastic, the amount of the first dispersion in step S2 was adjusted to 150 g, and the other preparation steps were kept consistent with the preparation steps in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 4.
[0060] Example 5 A mineral water plastic was prepared by replacing the mica mineral sheets in step S1 with the same mass of kaolin, while keeping the other preparation steps the same as in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 5.
[0061] Example 6 A mineral water plastic was prepared by replacing the mica mineral sheets in step S1 with illite of the same mass, while keeping the other preparation steps consistent with those in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 6.
[0062] Example 7 A mineral water plastic was prepared by replacing the mica mineral sheets in step S1 with the same mass of montmorillonite, while keeping the other preparation steps consistent with those in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 7.
[0063] Example 8 A mineral water plastic was prepared by replacing the mica mineral sheets in step S1 with the same mass of chlorite, while keeping the other preparation steps consistent with those in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 8.
[0064] Example 9 A mineral water plastic was prepared by replacing the mica mineral sheets in step S1 with vermiculite of the same mass, while keeping the other preparation steps consistent with those in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 9.
[0065] Example 10 A mineral water plastic was prepared by replacing ethanol with methanol in step S3, while keeping the other preparation steps the same as those in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 10.
[0066] Example 11 A mineral water plastic was prepared by replacing ethanol with isopropanol in step S3, while keeping the other preparation steps the same as in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 11.
[0067] Example 12 A mineral water plastic was prepared by replacing ethanol with acetone in step S3, while keeping the other preparation steps the same as those in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 12.
[0068] Example 13 A mineral water plastic was prepared by replacing ethanol with dimethylformamide in step S3, while keeping the other preparation steps the same as in Example 1, thus obtaining the mineral water plastic of Example 13.
[0069] Example 14 S1: 43.9 g of calcite, 1.1 g of nanocellulose and 150 g of water were mixed to obtain the first dispersion, wherein the amount of nanocellulose was 2.5% of the mass of calcite; S2: Add 5 g of acrylamide monomer, 0.32 g of persulfate initiator and 0.43 g of N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide crosslinking agent to the first dispersion, and polymerize in situ at 60 °C for 2 h to obtain a composite hydrogel; S3: The composite hydrogel was immersed in 100% ethanol at 25 °C for 12 h, and then hot-pressed at 100 MPa and 50 °C for 10 h to obtain the mineral water plastic of Example 14.
[0070] Comparative Example 1 Prepare pure polyacrylamide polymer.
[0071] Comparative Example 2 Purchase commercially available cement boards and compare them with conventional building materials.
[0072] Comparative Example 3 Purchase concrete and compare it with commonly used building materials.
[0073] Comparative Example 4 We purchased natural balsa wood for comparison.
[0074] Comparative Example 5 We purchased natural linden wood for comparison.
[0075] Comparative Example 6 Purchase commercially available polyoxymethylene for comparison.
[0076] Comparative Example 7 A comparative material was prepared in which nanocellulose was not added in step S1, and the other preparation steps were the same as those in Example 1.
[0077] During the preparation process, the minerals could not be dispersed in the aqueous solution and settled at the bottom, resulting in obvious stratification of the material in Comparative Example 7.
[0078] Comparative Example 8 A comparative material was prepared in which no acrylamide monomer was added in step S2, and the other preparation steps were the same as those in Example 1.
[0079] The material prepared in Comparative Example 8 could not form a block material, and the thin film material had very poor mechanical properties. Tool clamping would cause the material to crack, making it impossible to obtain relevant data on mechanical properties, and it did not have water plasticity.
[0080] Performance testing The mineral water plastic prepared in Example 1 is shown below. Figure 1As shown, the physical images of the mineral water plastics prepared in Examples 5 to 9 are as follows. Figure 2 As shown, the mineral-based hydroplastics prepared from each mineral component exhibit regular morphology, complete structure, and uniform color, with no obvious cracking, defects, or delamination. The preparation process described in this application enables the fabrication of basic molded bodies, providing a macroscopic basis for further processing into engineering products such as structural components, wear-resistant parts, and flame-retardant components, thus overcoming the limitations of low molding freedom inherent in traditional mineral-based dense materials.
[0081] This application also provides articles of the mineral water plastic prepared in Example 1, such as... Figure 3 As shown, the reversible plasticity of mineral water plastics is as follows: Figure 4 As shown, the reprocessing properties of mineral water plastics are as follows: Figure 5 As shown.
[0082] Cross-sections of the mineral water plastics prepared in Examples 1, 5-9 were subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) testing. The SEM image of the cross-section of the mineral water plastic in Example 1 is shown below. Figure 6 As shown, SEM images of the cross-sections of the mineral water plastics in Examples 5-9 are as follows. Figure 7 As shown in the two SEM images, the cross-sections of mineral-based water-plastics exhibit a dense, continuous structure without significant large pores or phase separation, and do not show the defects of pores, cracks, or lamellar agglomeration commonly found in traditional high-mineral-content systems.
[0083] The mineral water plastics prepared in Examples 1-4 and Comparative Example 1 were subjected to tensile strength and flexural stiffness tests, respectively. The tensile properties were tested according to GB / T 1040.3-2022 "Determination of tensile properties of plastics - Part 3: Test conditions for films and sheets". The test results are as follows: Figure 8 As shown. The bending stiffness test was conducted according to GB / T 9341-2008 "Determination of Bending Properties of Plastics", and the test results are as follows. Figure 9 As shown.
[0084] Analysis of the figure shows that different mineral contents have a significant regulatory effect on the tensile strength and flexural properties of mineral water plastic materials, exhibiting a trend of first increasing and then stabilizing. Among them, the mineral water plastic prepared in Example 1 achieves the optimal range of mechanical properties. The mineral water plastic prepared in Comparative Example 1 has low mechanical strength and poor load-bearing capacity. The mineral water plastics prepared in each embodiment of this application maintain excellent mechanical properties without significant sudden drops or deterioration, avoiding the mechanical defects of traditional high-filler materials and breaking through the technical bottleneck that high mineral content and excellent mechanical properties cannot be simultaneously achieved.
[0085] The mineral water plastics prepared in Examples 5-9 and Comparative Example 1 were subjected to tensile strength and flexural stiffness tests, respectively. The tensile property test results are as follows: Figure 10 As shown, the test results for bending stiffness performance are as follows: Figure 11 As shown. The performance test results verified the mechanical properties of mineral water plastic materials synthesized from various mineral components, and corroborated the mechanical compatibility of the preparation process of this application with various natural silicate minerals.
[0086] The mineral water plastics prepared in Example 1 and Comparative Examples 2 to 5 were subjected to flexural stiffness tests, such as... Figure 12 As shown. This application uses natural minerals to prepare mineral water plastics, which have significant performance advantages compared to traditional inorganic structural materials and natural wood materials. Its flexural strength far exceeds that of traditional inorganic structural materials and natural wood materials, highlighting the structural reinforcement effect of the mineral water plastics in this application, and at the same time confirming the feasibility of this material replacing traditional materials in engineering structural applications.
[0087] The mineral water plastics prepared in Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1 to 6 of this application were subjected to Shore hardness D tests, and the test results are as follows: Figure 13 As shown. The mineral water plastic of this application possesses excellent hardness properties, far exceeding those of the comparative materials, achieving a hardness level comparable to conventional engineering plastics. More importantly, while achieving high hardness, this mineral water plastic also retains the processability and plasticity of plastics, unlike traditional high-hardness inorganic materials such as cement boards and concrete, which lack plasticity and are prone to brittleness. It also compensates for the low hardness and poor wear resistance of pure polyacrylamide and natural wood materials.
[0088] The flame retardant properties of the small house constructed from mineral water plastic prepared in Example 1 were tested, such as... Figure 14 As shown. The mineral water plastics prepared in Examples 5-9 were subjected to flame retardant performance tests, as shown... Figure 15 As shown in the figure, the analysis reveals that the mineral-water plastic system developed in this application possesses excellent and stable flame-retardant properties for various layered silicate minerals. Furthermore, this flame-retardant property combines adaptability to practical application scenarios with the universality of the mineral system. The small house samples made of mica-based mineral-water plastic showed no open flame combustion, dripping, or structural damage at different time points under flame exposure, thus meeting the requirements of practical engineering applications.
[0089] The limiting oxygen index of the mineral water plastic prepared in Example 1 was tested and compared with other materials, such as... Figure 16As shown in the figure, the Limiting Oxygen Index (LOI) test results of mica-based mineral water plastic in Example 1, along with a comparison chart with traditional plastics and other flame-retardant composite materials, quantitatively confirm that this mineral water plastic possesses superior flame-retardant properties. Its limiting oxygen index reaches 48.6%, far exceeding the threshold of LOI < 28% for combustible materials and significantly higher than the LOI > 35% standard for flame-retardant materials, placing it within the category of high-performance flame-retardant materials. This value provides a decisive advantage over traditional plastics such as PC, PA, PET, PS, and PP, which have extremely low oxygen indices and high flammability. Mica-based mineral water plastic fundamentally solves the problem of poor flame retardancy in traditional plastics. Furthermore, compared to other additive flame-retardant composite materials such as MOF / lignocellulose, kaolin / cellulose, and silica / wood, this mineral water plastic also exhibits a higher oxygen index, highlighting its superior flame-retardant performance compared to conventional flame-retardant modified composite systems.
[0090] The performance test results of the mineral water plastics prepared in Examples 1 to 13 and Comparative Examples 1 to 6 are recorded in Table 1 below.
[0091] Table 1. Performance test results of mineral water plastics prepared in each embodiment and comparative example.
[0092] Table 1 summarizes the core properties of the mineral-water plastics in each embodiment and comparative example, including flexural strength, tensile strength, Shore hardness, water plasticity, and flame retardancy. This clearly demonstrates that the mineral-water plastics prepared in this application achieve synergistic excellence in multiple properties, and the preparation process is compatible with both minerals and solvents, exhibiting breakthrough performance advantages compared to traditional materials. All embodiments of this application simultaneously possess good water plasticity and flame retardancy; no embodiment shows a lack of either of these properties, confirming that the component compounding and preparation process can stably impart plasticity and excellent flame retardancy to the material, while maintaining high levels of mechanical strength and hardness. Example 1, with its mica-based system, shows the best performance, with peak flexural strength, tensile strength, and hardness.
[0093] In contrast, the mechanical properties and hardness of pure polyacrylamide-based materials are significantly lower. Traditional inorganic and wood-based materials lack water plasticity and natural wood has no flame retardancy. Polyoxymethylene also lacks cold water plasticity and flame retardancy. The material in this application breaks through the bottleneck of traditional materials having excellent single properties but difficulty in achieving multiple properties. This fully demonstrates that the synergistic effect of the ternary system of natural minerals, polyacrylamide, and nanocellulose is the core of improving the overall performance of the material.
[0094] In summary, the mineral-water plastic and its preparation method disclosed in this application achieve stable molding of a system with a high mineral content of 30% to 90% by constructing a ternary composite network of natural silicate minerals, polyacrylamide, and nanocellulose, combined with in-situ polymerization, solvent-inducing phase separation, and mild densification processes. This material combines the high hardness, wear resistance, and flame retardancy of minerals with the plasticity and recyclability of plastics. Its mechanical and flame retardant properties far exceed those of traditional materials, and its performance can be reversibly adjusted and recycled through water content control. This effectively solves the technical problems of difficult molding and poor processability of traditional mineral-based materials, and has broad application prospects in engineering structures, wear-resistant and flame-retardant components, aligning with the trend of green and low-carbon material development.
[0095] The basic principles, main features, and advantages of this application have been described above. Those skilled in the art should understand that this application is not limited to the above embodiments. The embodiments and descriptions in the specification are merely the principles of this application. Various changes and modifications can be made to this application without departing from its spirit and scope, and all such changes and modifications fall within the scope of the claims. The scope of protection claimed by this application is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. A method for producing a mineral water plastic, characterized in that, The preparation steps include the following: S1: Natural minerals and nanocellulose are dispersed in water to prepare the first dispersion; S2: Add acrylamide monomer, initiator and crosslinking agent to the first dispersion, and react under heating conditions to obtain composite hydrogel; S3: The composite hydrogel is immersed in a first solvent to trigger a non-solvent-induced phase separation process, and then the material is densified to obtain the mineral hydroplastic.
2. The production method according to claim 1, wherein The natural minerals account for 30% to 90% of the total mass of the solid reactants in the mineral hydroplastic.
3. The production method according to claim 1, wherein The natural minerals are silicate minerals or carbonate minerals.
4. The production method according to claim 3, wherein The silicate mineral is any one or a combination of multiple of mica, montmorillonite, kaolinite, illite, chlorite, or vermiculite.
5. The production method according to claim 3, wherein The carbonate mineral is any one or a combination of multiple of the following: calcite, magnesite, siderite, rhodochrosite, zirconia, aragonite, strontium carbonate, cerussite, dolomite, malachite, or azurite.
6. The production method according to claim 1, wherein The first solvent is any one or a combination of methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, n-propanol, n-butanol, acetone or dimethylformamide.
7. The preparation method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The nanocellulose accounts for 1% to 5% of the natural mineral content, and the amount of acrylamide monomer added is 10% to 70% of the total mass of the solid reaction raw materials of the mineral water plastic.
8. The preparation method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first solvent has a mass concentration of 20% to 100%, the composite hydrogel is soaked in the first solvent for 0.5 to 24 hours at a temperature of 10 to 30 °C, the densification treatment temperature is 10 to 50 °C, and the densification treatment pressure is 30 to 100 MPa.
9. A mineral water plastic, characterized in that, It is prepared by the preparation method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
10. The mineral water plastic as described in claim 9, characterized in that, The gel or solid state of the mineral hydroplastic can be adjusted by solvent.