Structural plastic microbuckling and compressive strength of long-fibre composite materials [chapter]

S. Drapier, J.-C. Grandidier, C. Jochum, M. Potier-Ferry
Solid Mechanics and Its Applications  
In this paper an attempt has been made to optimize the waste plastic-rubber composite materials using the Taguchi's Design of Experiment Methodology. Moreover, an investigation has been carried to find out the effect of various parameters such as waste plastic mix, rubber powder, and filler materials (calcium carbonate and fly ash) on the compressive strength of the material. The main objective was to reutilize the waste plastics into developing plastic-rubber composite materials. In the
more » ... research, waste plastics have been blended with rubber powder, calcium carbonate, and fly ash in a plastic extruder. Then the melt was transferred into cube moulds, and rammed to form the specimens. Taguchi's L9 orthogonal array has been utilized to perform the experiment, and to optimize the parameters. The samples have been subjected to compression tests on the Universal Testing Machine. The data obtained has been analyzed using MINITAB statistical software to draw the robust conclusion. SEM micrographs and Particle size analysis have been performed on the fly ash filler material. The results show that fly ash is a mixture of micro and nano sized particles with a wide range of particle sizes. Further, it is evident from the research that all the selected parameters like waste plastic, rubber powder, fly ash and calcium carbonate are having significant effect on the compressive strength of the material under study. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed that waste plastic mix is the most influencing parameter for the compressive strength. Experimental results of compressive strength for optimum values of waste plastic-rubber composite material in comparison with clay brick revealed that it is 3 times stronger than the normal clay brick. These results indicate that waste plastic-rubber composite material could be used as low cost construction material and a cheaper substitute to clay bricks and various other building materials.
doi:10.1007/0-306-46946-4_9 fatcat:neneyk5blrea3bhmxyd5vb5hhu