Engineering Optimization
Okwuchi Smith Onyekwere; Mobolaji Humphrey Oladeinde; Raphael Olumese Edokpia
Abstract
In composite production, hydrophilic nature of plant fibres results in poor interfacial adhesion between polar-hydrophilic fibre and non-polar-hydrophobic matrix and dimensional instability of the resulting product. Therefore, there is need to reduce the percentage of water absorption of natural fibres ...
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In composite production, hydrophilic nature of plant fibres results in poor interfacial adhesion between polar-hydrophilic fibre and non-polar-hydrophobic matrix and dimensional instability of the resulting product. Therefore, there is need to reduce the percentage of water absorption of natural fibres before incorporating them in composite. Bamboo fibre polyester composites were subjected to three modification treatments which are mercerization, acetylation and mercerized-acetylation at fibre content levels of 10, 20 30, 40 and 50 wt % in order to reduce the moisture absorption of the composites. Taguchi method was used to optimize the parameter settings for reduced moisture absorption. The diffusion coefficient, absorption coefficient and permeability coefficient of the composites for each fibre treatment was used to study the absorption kinetics. Mercerized-acetylated fibre composites show the best moisture absorption performance among all the considered treatments. The application of optimization techniques and statistical analysis was used to improve the processes of bamboo fibre polyester composite production in order to achieve improved moisture degradation behavior of the composite and promote the expansion of natural fibres application in engineering.
Engineering Optimization
Okwuchi Smith Onyekwere; Mobolaji Humphrey Oladeinde; Kindness Alfred Uyanga
Abstract
There is great interest in application of natural fibres, such as bamboo fibre, as reinforcement in composite production. Herein, to achieve high performance under optimum process conditions, experimental design and optimization techniques are used to investigate the best parameter settings for processing ...
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There is great interest in application of natural fibres, such as bamboo fibre, as reinforcement in composite production. Herein, to achieve high performance under optimum process conditions, experimental design and optimization techniques are used to investigate the best parameter settings for processing bamboo fibre polyester composites. Single response optimization of the properties of bamboo fibre polyester composites using Taguchi orthogonal array, analysis of variance and Post hoc test was carried out. The test samples comprised of untreated, mercerized, acetylated and mercerized-acetylated bamboo fibre composites at fibre contents of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt %. All composite samples were fabricated using conventional hand lay-up process on randomly oriented long bamboo fibres. It was found that optimum parameter setting for impact strength was achieved at mercerization treatment and 30wt% fibre content with impact strength of 158.23 J/cm. For flexural strength, optimum parameter setting was found to be mercerization treatment at 50 wt % level of fibre content which resulted to flexural strength of 62.7 MPa. The optimum parameter setting for tensile strength is observed at mercerized-acetylation treatment at 50 wt% fibre content with tensile strength of 72.96 MPa. However, no significant difference, (P <.005) was observed in flexural strength, tensile strength and impact strength of mercerized and mercerized-acetylated fibre composites. This study established a research approach to improve bamboo fibre composite properties for more extended applications and to obtain optimal operating conditions by using optimization techniques. It will also serve as a guide for composite manufacturers on parameter settings selection.