Abstract
Huracrepitan pod was the fibre material used for this research and unsaturated polyester resin was used as the matrix. The huracrepitan pod was crushed with the aid of the Thomas-Willey laboratory mill machine, model 4 and was sieved using a standard sieve of 250 µm. The crushed huracrepitan pod was then soaked in a standard solution of 20% Sodium Hydroxide for 24 hours and washed with distilled water. It was later dried in the oven for an hour for final removal of moisture. I00 g of unsaturated polyester resin was reinforced with huracrepitan pod particles of filler loadings of 0 g, 10 g, 20 g, 30 g, and 40 g., while 90 g, 80 g, 70 g and 60 g of unsaturated polyester resin were reinforced with 20 g, 30 g and 40 g huracrepitan pod.The composites obtained were cut into dumbbell shapes and characterized to assess their performance. The hardness was enhanced to the maximum of 99.00 Shore A at 40% filler loading the percentage water absorption was found to be 0.3g. Pure unsaturated polyester resin recorded hardness of 94.67 Shore A, and water absorption of 0.30g and the percentage elongation optimum was found to be 15% at 40% filler loading and 2.5% at 0% filler loading. The results indicated that the use of huracrepitan pod particles as reinforcement can enhance the properties of polyester composites. It was observed that the samples with the highest filler loading absorbed more impact energy and also increased the elongation percentage. The application of Huracrepitan pod as filler in this work improved the mechanical properties of the thermosetting polymer.
Highlights
Originating from early agricultural societies and being almost forgotten for centuries, a true revival started of using lightweight composite structures for many technical solutions during the second half of the 20th century
In the case of the unsaturated polyester resin, as the filler loading increased there was a corresponding increase in the hardness of the composite from 0 – 40 g
The hardness increased from 94.67 Shore A to 99.00 Shore A. This result is expected because as more filler gets into the unsaturated polyester resin matrix, it helped to reduce the brittleness of the polymer thereby increasing the hardness due to strong matrix filler interaction
Summary
Originating from early agricultural societies and being almost forgotten for centuries, a true revival started of using lightweight composite structures for many technical solutions during the second half of the 20th century. After being solely used for their electromagnetic properties (insulators and radar-domes), using composites to improve the structural performance of spacecraft and military aircraft became popular in the last two decades of the previous century. With the development of improved materials with increasing costs, nowadays cost reduction during manufacturing and operation are the main technology drivers. The latest development is the use of composites to protect man against fire and impact and a tendency to a more environmentally friendly design, leading to the reintroduction of natural fibres in the composite technology [1]. Advanced composite has become the accepted term for materials manufactured from long or continuous reinforcing fibres, usually in excess of 50% by volume, embedded in a compatible matrix. A large range of fibres and matrix materials are available and so the more general term fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) is frequently used.
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