• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.10-21
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• 2006

Recycled polypropylene (RPP) - Wood Saw Dust (WSD) composites with and without acetylation of filler were produced at different filler loading (15%, 25%, 35% and 45% w/w) and filler size (300, 212 and $100{\mu}m$). The RPP-WSD was compounded using a Haake Rheodrive 500 twin screw compounder at $190^{\circ}C$ at 8 MPa for 30 minutes. The mechanical properties and water absorption properties of modified and unmodified WSD-PP composites were investigated. Acetylation of WSD improved the mechanical and water absorption characteristic of composites. The decrease of filler size (300 to $100{\mu}m$) of the unmodified and acetylated WSD showed increase of tensile strength and impact properties. The composites exhibited higher tensile modulus properties as the filler loading increased (15% to 45%). However tensile strength, elongation at break and impact strength showed the opposite phenomenon. Water absorption increased as the mesh number and filler loading increased. With acetylation, lower moisture absorption was observed as compared to unmodified WSD. The failure mechanism from impact fracture of the filler-matrix interface with and without acetylation was analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.345-353
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• 2018

This paper approaches to improve the mechanical and durability properties of low calcium fly ash geopolymer concrete with the addition of Alccofine as a mineral admixture. The mechanical and durability performance of GPC was assessed by means of compressive strength, flexural strength, permeability, water absorption and permeable voids tests. The correlation between compressive strength and flexural strength, depth of water penetration and percentage permeable voids are also reported. Test results show that addition of Alccofine significantly improves the mechanical as well as permeation properties of low calcium fly ash geopolymer concrete. Very good correlations were noted between the depth of water penetration and compressive strength, percentage permeable voids and compressive strength as well as between compressive strength and flexural strength.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.329-341
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• 2017

The challenge of replacing conventional plastics with biodegradable composite materials has attracted much attention in product design, particularly in the tensile-related areas of application. In this study, fibres extracted from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) were treated and utilized in reinforcing polyester matrix by hand lay-up technique. The effect of fibre loading and combined influence of alkali and silane treatments on porosity and water absorption parameters, and its correlation with the tensile behaviour of composites was analyzed. The results showed that tensile strength decreased whilst modulus of elasticity, water absorption and porosity parameters increased with increasing fibre loading. The composites of treated oil palm EFB fibre exhibited improved values of 2.47 MPa to 3.78 MPa for tensile strength; 1.75 MPa to 2.04 MPa for modulus of elasticity; 3.43% to 1.68% for porosity and 3.51% to 3.12% for water absorption at respective 10 wt.% fibre loadings. A correlation between porosity and water absorption with tensile behavior of composites of oil palm EFB fibre and positive effect of fibre treatment was established, which clearly demonstrate a connection between processing and physical properties with tensile behavior of fibre composites. Accordingly, a further exploitation of economic significance of oil palm EFB fibres composites in areas of low-to-medium tensile strength application is inferred.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.355-368
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• 2022

This paper investigates the impact of length and volume fractions (VFs) of banana fibres (BFs) on the mechanical and physical properties of concrete. The mechanical properties were compressive strength, splitting tensile, flexural strength, and bond stress, while the physical properties were unit weight and absorption. The slump test was used to determine workability. The concrete's behaviour with BFs was studied using scanning electron microscopy. Experimental work of concrete mixtures with BFs of various lengths (12 mm, 25 mm, and 35 mm) and VFs (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%) were carried out. The samples did not indicate any agglomeration of fibres or heterogeneity during mixing. The addition of BFs to concrete with VFs of up to 1.50% for all fibre lengths have a significant impact on mechanical properties, also the longer fibres performed better than shorter ones at all volume fractions of BFs. The mix10, which contain BFs with VFs 1.5% and length 35 mm, demonstrated the highest mechanical properties. The compressive strength, splitting tensile, flexural strength, and bond stress of the mix10 were 37.71 MPa, 4.27 Mpa, 6.12 MPa, and 6.75 MPa, an increase of 7.37%, 20.96%, 24.13%, and 11.2% over the reference concrete, which was 35.12 MPa, 3.53 MPa, 4.93 MPa, and 6.07 MP, respectively. The absorption is increased for all lengths by increasing the VFs up to 1.5%. Longer fibres have lower absorption, while shorter fibres have higher absorption. The mix8 had the highest absorption of 4.52%, compared to 3.12% for the control mix. Furthermore, the microstructure of concrete was improved through improved bonding between the fibres and the matrix, which resulted in improved mechanical properties of the composite.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.165-168
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• 2000

This paper presents the tracking resistance and mechanical strength due to boiling absorption of epoxy resin. The single network structure specimen(E series) formed of epoxy alone and interpenetrating polymer network(IPN) structure specimen(EM series) which epoxy resin was taken as first network and methacrylic acid resin as second network were manufactured. As adding $SiO^2$ filler classified by o[phr], 50[phr] and 100[phr] to those specimens, six kinds of specimens were manufactured and boiled in water during 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64[hours]. As a result, it was confirmed that the tracking breakdown time of E series showed a abrupt decrease with boiling time increasing, but that of EM series was decreasing smoothly. Also, it was verified that the degrading rates of mechanical strength was lowerd according to improvement of adhension strength in case of EM series.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.17-23
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• 2003

As a fundamental study of developing sawdust board from thinning softwood logs from three species (Pinus densiflora S. et Z., Larix leptolepis G. and Pinus koraiensis S. et Z.), this study examined the effect of board density and resin content on physical and mechanical properties of sawdust board. As the board density increase, thickness swelling, bending strength, and Brinell hardness increased while water absorption decreased. With increasing the resin content, the bending strength and hardness increased while water absorption and thickness swelling decreased. The board made of L. leptolepis was slightly low in its water absorption, and the one made of P. koraiensis was a little high in its bending strength, while there was no definite difference between each kind of trees in their hardness values.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2020.06a
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• pp.88-89
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• 2020

Research is underway to incorporate water-repellent agents inside mortars to improve the durability of concrete. Therefore, in this study, the mechanical properties and absorption rate were evaluated by adding a hybrid water repellent in which a liquid and a solid were mixed at a constant ratio.As a result of the experiment, the compressive strength of the mortar added with the hybrid water repellent showed a strength reduction of about 5% than the compressive strength of the OPC, and the overall water absorption was lower than that of the water repellent used alone.

• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.202-208
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• 2018

In this paper, mechanical and hygroscopic properties of teak sawdust and recycled polypropylene (RPP) composites are evaluated and compared with virgin polypropylene (VPP) matrix based composites. Verities of composites are prepared by variation in the plastic types, wood plastic ratio and the addition of coupling agent in the formulations. Mixing of wood sawdust and polypropylene is done by a twin screw extruder, and then sheets of wood plastic composites (WPCs) are produced by using the compression molding method. The results show that recycled matrix composites exhibit better tensile, flexural strength with low impact strength than virgin matrix based composites. Recycled composites show low water absorption and thickness of swelling than virgin matrix based composites. The results confirm that wood content in the polymer matrix affects the performance of composites while presence maleated polypropylene (MAPP) improves the properties of the composites significantly. Developed RPP matrix composites are as useful as VPP matrix composites and have the potential to replace the wood and plastics products without any adverse effect of the plastics on the environment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2000

In this paper, the variable mechanical strength and dielectric breakdown strength of epoxy composites were measured at boiling absorption condition in order to observe the influences of moisture in out door use. Also, in order to improve water resistance of matrix resin, IPN(interpenetrating polymer network) method which had been already reported, was introduced and the influence was investigated. As Adding filter(SiO2) classified by o[phr], 50[phr] and 100[phr] to two kinds of matrix resin, six kinds of specimens were manufactured. As a result, it was confirmed that the moisture absorption rate was increased and mechanical strength and dielectric breakdown strength were degraded with boiling time and filler content increasing. On the other hand, it was confirmed that moisture absorption rates were decreased and the degrading rates of mechanical strength and dielectric breakdown strength were lowered according to improvement of adhesion strength in case of IPN specimens.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.193-206
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• 2019

Although concrete is the most widely used construction material, its deficiency in shrinkage and low tensile resistance is undeniable. However, the aforementioned defects can be partially modified by addition of fibers. On the other hand, possibility of adding waste materials in concrete has provided a new ground for use of recycled concrete aggregates in the construction industry. In this study, a constant combination of recyclable coarse and fine concrete aggregates was used to replace the corresponding aggregates at 50% substitution percentage. Moreover, in order to investigate the effects of fibers on mechanical and durability properties of recycled aggregate concrete, the amounts of 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% steel fibers (ST) and 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.15% polypropylene (PP) fibers by volumes were used individually and in hybrid forms. Compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), water absorption, toughness, elastic modulus and shrinkage of samples were investigated. The results of mechanical properties showed that PP fibers reduced the compressive strength while positive impact of steel fibers was evident both in single and hybrid forms. Tensile and flexural strength of samples were improved and the energy absorption of samples containing fibers increased substantially before and after crack presence. Growth in toughness especially in hybrid fiber-reinforced specimens retarded the propagation of cracks. Modulus of elasticity was decreased by the addition of PP fibers while the contrary trend was observed with the addition of steel fibers. PP fibers decreased the ultrasonic pulse velocity slightly and had undesirable effect on water absorption. However, steel fiber caused negligible decline in UPV and a small impact on water absorption. Steel fibers reduce the drying shrinkage by up to 35% when was applied solely. Using fibers also resulted in increasing the ductility of samples in failure. In addition, mechanical properties changes were also evaluated by statistical analysis of MATLAB software and smoothing spline interpolation on compressive, flexural, and indirect tensile strength. Using shell interpolation, the optimization process in areas without laboratory results led to determining optimal theoretical points in a two-parameter system including steel fibers and polypropylene.