This paper presents an experimental study to investigate the sustainable alternativeceiling boards using Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) and Balanite Shell (BS). The ceiling boards were prepared by mixing (BS/binder, PKS/binder and PKS/BS/binder) at different ratios of (20/80, 40/60, 60/40 and 80/20) and represented as samples (A 1 , A 2 , A 3 and A 4 ), (B 1 , B 2 , B 3 and B 4 ) and (C 1 , C 2 , C 3 and C 4 ) respectively. The samples werecast by at press process in rectangular sheet shape mould of 187mm x 125 mm x 3mm. The samples were cut into specimen sizes of 30 mm x 40 mm and tested for dry shrinkage, water absorption, apparent porosity, bulk density, aking, and hardness properties. Morphology of the samples were examined using SEM. Results of the analysis show that irrespective of the ller loadings the properties of PKS / binder particularly at 20/80 ratio (B 1 ) displayed better dry shrinkage of 3.7 %; water absorption of 12.4 %; apparent porosity of 15 %; bulk density of 2.3 g/cm 3 ; aking of 0.05g and hardness of 57.6 Hv which approximates those of the conventional specimen (Control) with a more better physical properties compared to BS / binder at 20/80 ratio (A 1 ) with dry shrinkage of 6.1 %; water absorption of 33 %; apparent porosity of 35 %; bulk density 1.2 g/cm 3 ; aking of 0.36g; hardness of 26.2 Hv and PKS / BS / binder at 20/80 ratio (C 1 )with dry shrinkage of 9.8 %; water absorption of 30 %; apparent porosity of 32 %; bulk density 1.4 g/cm 3 ; aking of 0.1g; hardness of 36.7 Hv. These results therefore suggest that PKS could be used as a sustainable alternative in the production of ceiling boards.
This paper presents the study of moisture content, hardness, bulk density, apparent porosity, tensile and flexural characteristics of composite properties of Luffa aegyptiaca fiber. Luffa aegyptiaca reinforced epoxy composites have been developed by hand lay-up method with Luffa fiber untreated and treated conditions for 12 Hrs and 24 Hrs in different filler loading as in 2:1 ratio (5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%). The effects of filler loading on the moisture content, hardness, bulk density, apparent porosity, tensile and flexural properties were studied. In general, the treated Luffa fibre composite for 24 Hrs showed better improvement properties via addition of modified Luffa fibre as reinforcement. However, tensile and flexural properties improved continuously with increasing filler loading up to 20% but decreasing at 25% due to weak interfacial bonding for both untreated and treated composite. The favourable results were obtained at 20% for treated composite at 24 Hrs especially at tensile and flexural characteristics and are suitable for mechanical applications.
This study presents the potential of modi ed Palm Kernel Shell (MPKS) particles in the production of blocks as an alternative building material using cement or clay as binders. Several studies on Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) as a blend with other natural bres/ llers found that due to its hydrophilic nature, it has low physical and mechanical capabilities in comparison to MPKS, making it less compatible with any polymeric matrix. Experimental tests were conducted to determine the physicomechanical attributes of MPKS/Cement and MPKS/Clay blocks, including characterization of the cement and clay using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), as well as moisture content, water absorption, hardness, apparent porosity, bulk density, compressive strength, and ake. The morphology of the samples was determined using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Results show that MPKS/Cement block samples exhibit superior physicomechanical and morphological properties compared to MPKS/Clay. The MPKS/Cement block sample moisture content ranged between 4.76 -9.94%. The 80/20 MPKS/Cement sample recorded the most water absorption at 49.5%, and a microhardness value of 82.3 Hv for the 20/80 sample. The MPKS/Clay samples showed higher values of apparent porosity but recorded the least bulk density in the 80/20 samples. The 20/80 MPKS/Cement and MPKS/Clay samples showed the best compressive strength at 63.72 and 50.3 N/mm 2 respectively, while 80/20 for both cement and clay displayed very weak compressive strengths. The ratio 20/80 of MPKS/Cement is observed to be the optimum ratio where better properties of the composites were obtained. For the structure industry's longterm viability, MPKS' superior mechanical properties as an aggregate in block manufacturing make it an asset material as an alternative for some high-cost construction resources such as sand.
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