Browsing by Author "Rajapaksha, LD"

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    item: Conference-Abstract
    Development of cellulose based light weight polymer composites
    (2017) Rajapaksha, LD; Saumyadi, HAD; Samarasekara, AMPB; Amarasinghe, DAS; Karunanayake, L
    Polymer matrix composites are used in most of the engineering structures today. This type of composite consists of reinforcing materials in polymer matrix. There is an increasing demand for environmentally friendly reinforcing materials to reduce the cost of traditional fibers. Cellulose is a natural polymer material. Cellulose is used as filler for the reinforcement of polymer materials. Microcrystalline cellulose is a branch of cellulose. Objective of this research is to develop and characterize polypropylene and microcrystalline cellulose based composite. Silane surface modification technique was used to modify the cellulose surface. Surface modified cellulose was mixed polypropylene materials with different compositions. Physical and mechanical properties of the developed product were measured by tensile, impact, hardness, density and water absorption tests. According to the experimental results, there is a gradual reinforcing effect with increase of cellulose' concentration. Water absorption and hardness results showed increase of water absorption and hardness with increase of cellulose concentration. There is a gradual reduction of density of the develop product with increase of cellulose concentration. 5 wt% sample showed the lowest density value and weight reduction is about 13%. This type of composite can be used for light weight strstructure design especially in load bearing applications.
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    item: Conference-Abstract
    Microcrystalline cellulose based polymer composite for engineering applications
    (Society of Materials Engineering Students, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, 2017-03) Rajapaksha, LD; Saumyadi, HAD; Samarasekara, AMPB; Amarasinghe, DAS; Sivahar, V
    In the last several years, polymer composites have been used heavily in aerospace, automotive and other engineering applications. Polymer matrix composites (PMCs) are comprised of a variety of short or continuous fibers bound together by an organic polymer matrix. Natural fibers are recently getting attention from researchers and academia to utilize in polymer composites due to their ecofriendly nature and sustainability. Cellulose is the most abundant and renewable biopolymer on earth and is obtained from renewable resources such as biomass. Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is a member of cellulose family. MCC possesses many advantages compared to cellulose fibers. Polypropylene is one of the widely used thermoplastic material as matrix material in engineering applications. In this research, Polypropylene matrix with microcrystalline cellulose reinforced composite was investigated for their mechanical properties. MCC was subjected to surface modification to improve compatibility with hydrophobic Polypropylene using silane treatment. Polypropylene was mixed with surface treated MCC by varying MCC concentration (1% wt. to 5% wt.) in a laboratory type internal mixer. Composite was fabricated using compression moulding technique. Impact, tensile, hardness and water absorption tests were performed to evaluate the mechanical properties of the developed composites. Density of the developed composite was measured to estimate the weight of the developed composite. Experimental results showed that gradual increase of tensile strength, hardness and impact strength with the increase of MCC concentration. Polypropylene with 4 wt% of MCC. sample showed the maximum impact strength and it was 18.2 KJ/m 2 . Maximum water absorption (0.02%) was observed in 5wt%. MCC containing sample. 5wt%.MCC containing sample showed a maximum hardness (74.5 Shore D). Developed composite showed the gradual reduction of density from 1wt% MCC (0.880 g/cm 3 ) to 5wt% MCC (0.825 g/cm 3 ). Therefore, Polypropylene with MCC polymer composite can be used for different engineering application. This provides light weight benefits.