Recently, natural filler reinforced polymer composites are important materials for various engineering applications. Hence, this present work focuses on utilization of coconut shell powder (CSP) as a filler in vinyl ester (VE) resin to produce particulate composite specimens. The particulate composite plates with various weights or filler contents from 5 to 30 wt% were fabricated, using compression molding technique. The fabricated composites were subjected to tensile, flexural, impact, hardness, heat deflection and swelling behavior tests to obtain their corresponding material properties. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis was carried out on the coconut shell powder/vinyl ester (CSP/VE) composite specimens to investigate into the presence of their elements, in addition to the aforementioned tests. From the experimental results obtained, it was observed that the optimum mechanical properties of CSP/VE composites were obtained at 15 wt% of filler content, having tensile, flexural and impact strengths of 38.70, 105.13 MPa and 33.04 kJ/m2, respectively. Also, the heat deflection temperature (HDT) results varied from 158 (0 wt%, neat VE resin) to 171 oC along various percentages of filler contents. Lastly, the morphological study/analysis of the fractured CSP/VE composite specimens was conducted by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to confirm the experimental data/results obtained. It was evident that CSP/VE composite structures could be potential substitutes for some synthetic composites. Also, they are suitable for various engineering applications in aerospace, electrical/electronics and automobile industries, based on their properties.
The present work investigates the mechanical strengths retention and prediction of maximum service life of sets of laminated composites by analyzing their diffusion coefficients and activation energies, using Fick’s law and Arrhenius principle. Jute fiber woven mat reinforced epoxy laminated composites (JFMRLCs) were prepared by simple hand lay-up and compression molding methods. The layering patterns of 0º balanced laminate of [0º/0º/0º/0º/0º], 30º angle-ply laminate of [0º/+30º/0º/-30º/0º] and 45° angle-ply laminate of [0°/+45°/0°/-45°/0°] were used to prepare the composite samples, according to classical laminated plate theory (CLPT). The composites were immersed in water at different periods of 10, 20, 30 and 40 days aging. The effects of the various periods of aging on their mechanical properties were studied. The results showed that the weights of the composite samples increased by increasing the aging periods. The mechanical properties of aged (wet) composites were compared with the unaged (dry) counterparts to predict their strengths retention. The composite with 45° layering pattern exhibited the maximum strength retention. Also, the same composite sample with layering pattern of 45° produced the maximum activation energy, based on Arrhenius principle. The tensile fractured surfaces were analyzed to investigate into their fiber-matrix interfacial bonds through images obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Summarily, it was evident that optimum JFMRLCs with layering pattern of 45° exhibited best mechanical properties. Hence, they can act as suitable, sustainable, low cost and environmentally friendly composite materials for structural marine and other related engineering applications.
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