1 research outputs found
Effect of particle size and weight percentage variation on the mechanical properties of periwinkle shell reinforced polymer (epoxy resin) matrix composite
Polymers are very interesting and useful materials that have many applications in
various areas of engineering. Composites formed with these materials are known to
exhibit outstanding mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. In this work, a
polymer, epoxy resin, was reinforced with a biodegradable material, periwinkle shell
(PWS) particles, using the hand lay-up method. The PWS was pulverized using a ball
mill and three sieve sizes of the PWS (75, 150, and 300 μm) were sieved out. Various
samples of the composite were produced by reinforcing the epoxy resin matrix with 10,
20, 30, 40, and 50 wt% of each of the PWS particle sieve sizes. The samples so formed
were subjected to the following mechanical tests: hardness, tensile, compressive, and
impact tests. It was found out that the samples of composites showed higher values of
the parameters tested for than ordinary epoxy resin showed. In the samples of composites,
it was found that the samples with a higher weight percentage of the PWS reinforcement
recorded higher values of those mechanical properties tested for. The higher the weight
percentage of the PWS in the composite, the greater the value of the mechanical property
tested for