Previous studies have revealed the potential of powder mixed electrical discharge machining (PMEDM) with regards to concurrently machining part geometry and coating an antibacterial layer on medical devices.This study is aimed at further demonstrating this potential. In order to do so, the PMEDM process was varied by adding different concentrations of silver nano-particles into the dielectric fluid and used to machine Ti-6Al-4V. Afterwards, the resulting machined and coated surfaces were characterized with regards to surface integrity, the coating layer's thickness, microhardness and chemical elements as well as antibacterial property.Material removal rate, tool wear and pulse signals were also analysed in order to give an insight on process feasibility. From both qualitative and quantitative results, it could be established that the surfaces machined and coated by PMEDM method have demonstrated a significant reduction of not only the amount of S. aureus bacteria, but also the number of bacterial clusters on the coating layer's surface. Moreover, the coating layer's silver content, which depends on the powder concentration suspended in the dielectric fluid, plays a vital role in the antibacterial property. As compared to surfaces without silver, surfaces containing approximately 3.78% silver content showed a significant decrease in both bacterial numbers and clusters, whereas a further increase in silver content did not result in a considerable bacterial number and cluster reduction. Regarding the machining performance, as compared to EDM without powder, machining time is remarkably decreased by using the PMEDM method.
Approximately 450 million tons of plastic and agricultural waste are produced each year in the world. Only a small portion of this plastic waste is recycled, and a small portion of this agricultural waste is used as fuel or fertilizer, and the rest of this waste is left in the environment or is burned, resulting in environmental and air pollution. For proper disposal, plastic and agricultural waste can be used in the manufacture of composites as raw materials. In this study, we had evaluated the use of bean pod powder (BPp) was used as natural reinforcing filler in recycled polypropylene (rPP) based composites. BPp/rPP composite filaments were developed using the extrusion method and the samples were printed by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). Composites with rPP matrix containing different weight fractions of BPp (5%, 10% and 15%) were fabricated to observe and compare the mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, and compressive strength) of the filament composites. In addition, the filament surface was analyzed for roughness and particle size of bean pod powder. The results established that BPp/rPP composites exhibited better tensile, flexural, and compressive strength than rPP and pure PP. By adding 5 wt% BPp, the tensile strength of rPP increased from 20.4 MPa to 22.8 MPa. The highest flexural strength (15.05 MPa) was obtained at 5 wt% BPp among all composites and the highest compressive strength (24.5 MPa), was obtained at 10 wt% BPp. Therefore, it can be concluded that by carefully selecting the ratio of BPp to bean pod powder, it is therefore possible to positively influence the mechanical properties of the resulting composite.
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