International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Volume 119 No. 12 2018, 15667-15676 ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version) url: http://www.ijpam.eu Special Issue ijpam.eu

STUDY OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ALGAE FILLER VINYLESTER COMPOSITE

*Balagiddappagari Bharathkumar, K Sasikumar, G Bharathiraja and V. Jayakumar Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai-600076, Tamil Nadu, INDIA *Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT In the recent studies, the applications of particulate composites are increased rapidly in the field of marine industries and various automobile industries. In order to improve its mechanical and thermal properties, addition of reinforcements such as algae filler, ground nut cell, etc. are required. The reinforcement preferred in our experiment is algae filler as it is biodegradable and available naturally. In this study, vinyl was reinforced with various compositions of algae filler and the mechanical properties were studied. The percentage compositions of algae filler considered in this research is 5%,10%,15%,20%,25% with the base matrix i.e, vinyl ester. The fabrication of this composite is approached by hand lay-up method. The algae filler composites were fabricated and tested for finding out the mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, impact strength.

Keywords: Algae filler, Vinyl ester , Hand layup method, Mechanical properties.

1. INTRODUCTION The utilization of composite materials in the distinctive fields is expanding because of their enhanced properties. Specialists and Researchers are cooperating with themselves number of years for finding the elective answer for the high arrangement materials. In this investigation a natural composite is being readied and the mechanical properties of the natural composite are assessed. The directed examinations on bio composite was initially created with biodegradable PBS and jute fiber, and the impacts of fiber surface alteration on attributes of jute fiber and mechanical properties of the bio composite were assessed [1]. Jute filaments are dealt with by 2% NaOH, 2 + 5% NaOH for surface adjustment. Tensile testing, flexural testing and SEM were done. The trial comes about demonstrate that surface alteration can expel surface contaminations and decrease the distance across of jute strands. Later, the sisal– jute– glass fiber

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strengthened polyester composites is created and their mechanical properties, for example, elasticity, flexural quality and effect quality are assessed [2]. The interfacial properties, inside breaks and inner structure of the cracked surfaces are assessed by utilizing SEM. Tensile, flexural results analyzed. The outcomes demonstrated that the joining of sisal– jute fiber with Glass fiber strengthened can enhance the properties. The study about Bio composite, Bio strands and Bio fasteners [3-4]. It is critical to understand about the properties of biodegradable composites and crude materials utilized as a part of making composites, which are being utilized for biomedical, vehicles, bundling and other designing applications. The development of biodegradable composites from renewable sources is required for the future needs [6]. The reusing capability of some waste materials, for example, olive pits and so forth. In this investigation, a correlation of the size dispersion and the thickness of olive pit powder as per the granulating strategies was made. The investigation demonstrated that olive pits can be additionally considered as added substance for the generation of green materials. Also uncovers that with filler stacking an expansion in the ductile modulus yet a lessening of flexural quality might be because of poor interfacial holding between olive pit and PLA. The natural fiber and vinyl ester composites created more interesting among the researchers and find its usage in many industrial applications [5]. The usage of natural filler with various matrixes also gives biodegradable composites.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 Materials Materials utilized as a part of this test work are vinyl ester (Synthetic resin), algae filler (natural filler). The vinyl ester resin and the catalyst methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) are acquired from M/s. Sakthi fiber glass Ltd., Chennai, India. The quickening agent (accelerator) used for the investigation is cobalt Naphthenate and is included as 1% with the resin and the catalyst. In this present investigation natural filler and synthetic resin are used for fabricating the composite specimen.

2.2 Fabrication of Composite A polyester sheet is taken and with the assistance of silicon carbide elastic, a mold with dimension 300x300x3 is prepared. For various volume fraction to deliberate algae filler, synthetic resin, catalyst and accelerator are stirred well and poured into the mold. Care was taken to keep away from the air bubbles. In this procedure the accompanying composite was readied. The composite materials are fabricated by hand layup process. As a matter of first importance, a discharge gel is splashed on the form surface to stay away from the adhering of polymer to the surface. Thin plastic sheets are utilized at the top and base of the mold plate to get great surface complete of the composite. At that point in fluid shape is blended completely in appropriate extent with an endorsed impetus ( operator) and poured onto the surface effectively placed in the mold. The polymer is consistently spread with the assistance of brush. In the wake of setting the plastic sheet, discharge gel is splashed on the inward surface of the mold plate which is then kept on the stacked layers and the weight is applied. In the wake of curing either at room temperature or at some particular temperature, mold is opened or the created composite part is taken out and additionally handled [7]. At that point the work piece is taken from the mold and they are cut according to ASTM measurement.

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Fig.1. Hand Layup Method

Table 1. Composition of composite SPECEMEN ID ALGAE FILLER VINYL ESTER (% Volume Fraction) (% Volume Fraction) 1 5 95 2 10 90 3 15 85 4 20 80 5 25 75

2.3 ASTM Dimensions According to ASTM (American society for testing materials) international standards the specimen is cut for testing mechanical properties. For the tensile testing the ASTM D638 is prepared with (160×20×3) mm dimensions as a double dumbbell shape, ASTM D790 with rectangular cross section of (100×12.5×3) mm is used for flexural testing, ASTM D256 rectangular cross section with (64×12.7×3.2) mm is used for impact testing.

Fig. 2. Tensile Test Specimen (Double Dumbbell Shape)

Fig .3. Flexural Test Specimen

Fig 4. Impact Test Specimen.

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3. MECHANICAL TESTING

3.1 Tensile Testing The prepared is cut into required measurement for Tensile testing using a saw shaper and the edges wrapped up by using emery paper for mechanical testing. The tensile test specimen is set up as per the dimensions of ASTM D638 standard. The tensile testing of specimen is done on the Universal Testing Machine (UTM) as shown in Figure 5 ( Model: UTN 40, S. No. 11/98-2450).

Fig.5. Tensile Testing Setup The various specimens are prepared as per the volume fraction of Algae powder and vinylester resin and tensile testing was done. The tensile strength values are obtained and tabulated in Table 2.Based on the tabulated values bar chart is drawn to identify easily the influence of particulate at particular volume fraction.

Table 2. Tensile Strength Values of Tested Specimen.

S. NO ALGAE VINYL ESTER TENSILE STRENGTH POWDER RESIN ( KN) (% Volume ( %Volume Fraction) Fraction)

1 5 95 2.49 2 10 90 7.4 3 15 85 15 4 20 80 22.7 5 25 75 16.2

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TENSILE STRENGTH

25

20

15

10

5 TENSILE TENSILE STRENGTH IN KN

0 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% % OF ALGAE IN A EACH SPECIMEN

Fig. 6. Tensile Strength Vs Volume Fraction of Algae

3.2 Flexural Testing To find the flexibility and bending properties of the composite, flexural test is done for each specimen. For this flexural testing, the composite is prepared as per the dimensions of ASTM D790, where the composite is cut into (130×10.5×3) mm dimensions. Bending strength of specimen is tested by Universal Testing Machine (UTM). Place the composite specimen on the Base-block of UTM as shown in Figure 7.

Fig .7. Flexural Testing Equipment

Now, apply load on the specimen by moving the central grip of UTM towards the Base-block. The readings for the bending strength are noted and calculated the values for the Flexural strength. Flexural strength =

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Table 3. Flexural Strength Values of Tested Specimen

S. NO ALGAE VINYL ESTER FLEXURAL STRENGTH POWDER RESIN ( KN) (% Volume ( %Volume Fraction) Fraction)

1 5 95 0.4 2 10 90 0.12 3 15 85 0.425 4 20 80 0.57 5 25 75 0.649

FLEXURAL STRENGTH 0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

peak peak load KN in 0.2

0.1

0 1 2 3 4 5 volume fraction of specimen

Fig. 8. Flexural Strength Vs Volume Fraction of Algae

3.3 Impact Testing To find the toughness and notched sensitivity of the algae filler vinyl ester composite, the composite is cut into specimens with dimensions of ASTM D256 for Impact testing. The measurements of impact testing specimens are (64×12.5×3.2) mm. the test is carried out by Charpy Impact test set up, where the specimen is fitted bottom and got hit by sudden force as shown in Figure 9.

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Fig. 9. Impact Testing Setup

The values of impact strength are noted for different volume percentage of algae filler vinyl ester specimen and the bar chart is drawn.

Table 4. Calculated Values of Impact Strength

S. NO ALGAE VINYL ESTER RESIN IMPACT STRENGTH POWDER ( %Volume Fraction) ( JOULE) (% Volume Fraction)

1 5 95 1.37 2 10 90 1.44 3 15 85 1.40 4 20 80 1.17

5 25 75 1.16 IMPACT STRENGTH 1.6

1.4

1.2

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

IMPACT STRENGTH IMPACT STRENGTH IN JOULE 0.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 VOLUME FRACTION OF SPECIMEN

Fig. 10. Impact Strength Vs Volume Fraction of Algae

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4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The tensile, flexural, and impact strength of vinyl ester composites with different volume percentage (v/v%) of algae filler are shown in Figs 6,8,10. From the figures, we conclude that addition of algae filler increases the mechanical properties to certain extent. The tensile strength of vinyl ester composite increases up to the 20%(v/v%) addition of algae filler, Further addition of algae filler decreases the tensile strength. This is due to uniform distribution of algae in the vinyl ester matrix. The uniform dispersion of filler created stress when load is applied. It also indicates that bonding between filler and matrix is better when compared to the composite with 25% volume (v/v%) of filler materials. Mass amount of filler material results in amorphous nature of the composite. The influence of algae filler reinforcement on flexibility and bending strength of vinyl ester composite is shown in Fig 8. In similar to the tensile properties, it was observed that flexural properties of vinyl ester increased by addition of algae filler. Addition of algae filler by more than 20% (v/v%) decreases the flexural properties of the composite material. The decrease in flexural properties at higher v/v% is due to the higher mass and weak interface between the filler and the matrix. The influence of algae filler on toughness and impact sensitivity of vinyl ester is shown in Fig 10. It provides an interesting observation that the addition of filler up to 10%(v/v%) of algae filler increases the impact strength of composite material. However, further addition of filler decreases the impact strength of composite material moderately. It is due to brittleness of the composite material. However, the value is still higher than neat resin.

5. CONCLUSIONS In the present study, algae filler reinforced vinyl ester composites were prepared with different volume percentage and the mechanical properties were analyzed. The following conclusions were drawn. The tensile strength of the composite increases as there is an increase in addition of algae reinforcement and the maximum tensile strength was observed in 20% addition of the reinforcement. The flexural strength of the composite was observed that there is an increase in the flexural strength with addition of algae reinforcement. The impact strength of the composite materials was of improper order and the maximum impact strength was observed in 10% addition of reinforcement.

REFERENCES [1] Lifang Liu, Jianyong Yu, Longdi Cheng, Weiwei Qu., “Mechanical properties of poly (butylene succinate) PBS biocomposites reinforced with surface modified jute fiber”, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 40 (5), 669-694, 2009. [2] M.Ramesh, K.Palanikumar, K.Hemachandra Reddy, “Mechanical property evaluation of sisal-jute-glass fiber reinforced polyester compositeS”, Composite Part B: Engineering, 48, 1-9, 2013. [3] Dr. P. Ponnusamy And V.Vadivelvivek, “Investigation Of Mechanical Properties Of Palm Sprout Fiber Reinforced Composites”, International Journal of Innovations in Scientific and Engineering Research (IJISER), Vol.3, No.2, pp.16-22, 2016.

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[4] P. Asokan, M. Firdoous and W. Sonal., “Properties and potential of bio fibres, bio binders, and bio composites‖ ”, Rev. Adv. Mater. Sci., 30, 54-261, 2012. [5] N. Manal, A. Samdi, K. Elabassi, M. Gomina, R. Moussa, “Recycling of industrial wastes, phosphogypsum and fly ash, in building materials”, MATEC Web of Conferences, 2, 10-15, 2012. [6] Deepak Joel Johnson, Sarath kumar, P.Prakash, “A Review on natural fiber reinforced polyester and vinyl ester composites”, International Conference on Automotive systems, Agricultural Equipments and Manufacturing, 1-6, 2017. [7] TP Sathishkumar, P Navaneethakrishnan, S Shankar, R Rajasekar and N Rajini, “Characterization of natural fiber and composites-A review”, Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites, 32 (19), 1457-1476, 2013. [8] Alejandra Constante, Selvum Pillay, “Compression molding of algae fiber and composites: Modeling of elastic modulus”, Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites, 2016.

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