Modelling and Optimisation of the Mechanical Properties of Injection Moulded High Density Polyethylene-Sawdust Composite

Authors: Aliyegbenoma CO, Akpobi JA

DOI Info: N/A

ABSTRACT

The focus of this study is on the modeling and optimisation of an injection moulded high density polyethylene-Sawdust (HDPE-sawdust) composite. The HDPE material and sawdust were mixed together to form a homogenous mixture with various percentage composition by volume as obtained by the central composite design (CCD). A two-screw plunger injection moulding machine with maximum clamping force of 120 tons and shot capacity of 3.0 oz was used to produce the HDPE-sawdust composite at various temperatures. The produced composites were evaluated for their mechanical properties such as tensile strength, proof stress, flexural modulus and flexural strength. The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to determine the effect of the interaction of temperature and percentage by volume of material on the mechanical properties of the produced HDPE-sawdust composite. Models were developed for predicting the mechanical properties (tensile strength, proof stress, flexural strength and flexural modulus) for the produced composites. The models were validated using coefficient of determination (R2). The coefficient of determination (R²) obtained ranged from 0.9213 (92.13%) to 0.981 (98.10%) which indicates a good fit was achieved between the model and experimental results. The optimization results for HDPE-Sawdust composites shows that the tensile strength, proof stress, flexural strength and flexural modulus were maximized with values of 25.80 MPa, 28.17 MPa, 43.77 MPa and 0.83 GPa obtained at barrel temperature of 164.64 ^oC and polymer level of 68.54%.

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