Use of Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) to identify fly ash mineral spatial and particulate distribution in epoxy polymer

• Fly ash minerals are used as reinforcement in epoxy resin to add better properties.
• Distribution of these minerals in the matrix cannot be seen by method like EDS.
• So a novel method SIMS is used to examine the various minerals in epoxy matrix.
• The SIMS method successfully provides excellent/novel mineral distribution results.

Fly ash from coal power stations consists typically of a series of oxide minerals. These minerals can have beneficial effects when used as reinforcement in a plastic matrix. In this work the advanced technique SIMS has been utilised to identify the spatial distribution of the various minerals in fly ash in an epoxy matrix with fly ash weights of 10% and 50%. It is observed that SIMS, which can scan normally to a precision of 0.5 to 0.05 wt.%, could positively identify the distribution of the fly ash mineral elements in the epoxy. Attempts were also made to identify the fly ash element distribution in the epoxy using a composition analysis method, namely, EDS. However, it is observed that in the present fly ash–epoxy composites, EDS could not identify the fly ash elements demonstrating SIMS is a much preferred identification technique than the popular EDS method.