It is evident that sugarcane/bagasse is a highly potential natural composite fiber. In this study, the correlation of composition fiber amount to the mechanical strength was presented. Bagasse was treated with alkali and then reinforced in polypropylene by means of hot pressing. Fiber loading was set to be varied from 10 to 20 wt%. Composite samples were subjected to tensile, hardness, and flexural characterization. Composites with 30 wt% of fiber loading registered maximum tensile strength while with 10 wt% fiber loading registered the minimum. Hardness increases with the amount of fiber. Flexural strength and flexural modulus were found to be greater than original polypropylene. Scanning electron microscopy examination revealed the mechanisms of the strength gain in morphological point of view. The findings give manufactures and engineers a sound basis decision whether to apply the use of this composite for weight reduction especially in automotive applications or not.
Accuracy of machined component is one of the challenging tasks for manufacturer. In the aerospace industry, machining process is widely used for fabrication of unitized-monolithic component that contains a thin-walled structure. During machining, the cutting forces cause deflection to the thin-wall section, leading to dimensional form errors that cause the finished part to be out of specification or failure. Most of the existing research for machining thin-wall component only concentrated on the process planning and the effects of cutter geometric feature is often neglected. Tool geometric feature has a direct influence on the cutting performance and should not be neglected in the machining consideration. This paper reports on the effect of helix angle on the magnitude of wall deflection. The established effects will be used for the development of high performance cutting tool for specifically machining thin-wall component.
Polyetheretherketones (PEEK) has been widely used as biomaterial for trauma, orthopaedic and spinal implants. Component made from Polyetheretherketones generally required additional machining process for finishing which can be a problem especially to attain a good surface roughness and dimensional precision. This research attempts to optimize the machining and processing parameters (cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut) for effectively machining Polyetheretherketones (PEEK) implant material using carbide cutting tools. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) technique was used to assess the effects of the parameters and their relations towards the surface roughness values. Based on the analysis results, the optimal machining parameters for the minimum surface roughness values were by using cutting speed of 5754 rpm, feed rate of 0.026 mm/tooth and 5.11 mm depth of cut (DOC).
The management of pest insects is the critical component of agricultural production especially in the fertigation based farm. Although the fertigation farm in Malaysia has advantages in the fertilization and irrigation management system, it still lacking with the pest management system. Since almost the insect and pests are living under the crop's leaves, it is difficult and hard labor work to spray under the leaves of the crop. Almost agricultural plants are damaged, weakened, or killed by insect pests especially. These results in reduced yields, lowered quality, and damaged plants or plant products that cannot be sold. Even after harvest, insects continue their damage in stored or processed products. Therefore, the aim of this study is to design and develop an autonomous pesticide sprayer for the chili fertigation system. Then, this study intends to implement a flexible sprayer arm to spray the pesticide under the crop's leaves, respectively. This study involves the development of unmanned pesticide sprayer that can be mobilized autonomously. It is because the pesticide is a hazardous component that can be affected human health in the future if it exposed during manual spraying method especially in a closed area such as in the greenhouse. The flexible sprayer boom also can be flexibly controlled in the greenhouse and outdoor environment such as open space farms. It is expected to have a successful pesticide management system in the fertigation based farm by using the autonomous pesticide sprayer robot. Besides, the proposed autonomous pesticide sprayer also can be used for various types of crops such as rockmelon, tomato, papaya. pineapples, vegetables and etc.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.