ABSTRACT
Plastic components have several advantages relatively to metallic ones, namely, light weight, reduced noise, facility to generate different geometries, anticorrosion and self-lubrication. Injection-moulded components can be quickly produced in a very large number and low cost. However, they have low strength and are temperature sensitive. Improvement of mechanical and thermal properties has been achieved with reinforcements of particles. Though, the reinforcement has important effects in terms of processability, appearance, density and aging performance. Different particles have been used as reinforcement, such as calcium carbonate, CaCO3, [1] and silica [2]. More recently hybrid materials have been developed [3]. Filling particles are usually stiffer and more resistant than matrix. Nevertheless, reinforcements with metallic particles have not been reported.
