Influence of Bamboo Stem Ash on Some Properties of Polyester Matrix
This work investigated the influence of bamboo stem ash reinforcement on some properties of polyester matrix composites. Open mold technique was used for production of the polyester composites of 2, 4, 6, and 8wt % reinforcement. The density of the unreinforced polyester obtained is 1.190 g/cm3 while the values obtained from the composites are 1.194, 1.191, 1.185 and 1.182 g/cm3. The bamboo stem ash has no significant effect on the density of the polyester (matrix) since they have nearly the same density. The percentage porosity of the unreinforced polyester is 0.84 but the percentage porosity of the composites is 0.17, 0.084, 0.17 and 0.25 %. The influence of the bamboo stem ash on the polyester reduces the porosity of the composites. The polyester matrix composites produced exhibit the same stress-strain deformation behavior as the unreinforced polyester irrespective of the reinforcement weight percent. The average tensile strength of the unreinforced polyester (B0) is 12, while that of the composites being 17.8, 16, 15.7 and 14 MPa. The composition 2% RHA gave the optimum tensile strength. The re-sult obtained reveals that the more the reinforcement the lower the tensile strength of the composite. Likewise, the fracture toughness of the unreinforced polyester is 0.032 MPam1/2, the values of the fracture toughness of the composites is 0.058, 0.045, 0.04, and 0.042 MPam1/2. The optimum value of the fracture toughness obtained is also at 2 wt% reinforcement of bam-boo stem ash. As the reinforcement increases, the fracture toughness decreases. The strain energy of the unreinforced polyes-ter is 0.45 J whereas the values obtained for the composites are 0.45, 1.5, 1.0, 0.7 and 0.63 J. The highest energy that can be stored prior to deformation was obtained at the sample BS1. The strain energy decreases with increase in the reinforcement. The flexural strength of the unreinforced polyester is 27.0 MPa but the flexural strength of the composites produced is 28.2, 29.3, 29.5 and 29.3 MPa. The optimum flexural strength was attained at 29.5 MPa by sample with the composition 6 wt% bam-boo stem ash (BS3). The flexural strength also increases with increase in weight percent of the bamboo stem ash in the com-posites. The bending strength of the unreinforced polyester is 3010.40 MPa whereas the bending strength of the composites formed is 3491.9, 4381.3, 5945.7 and 6862.4 MPa. The bending strength of the composites increases with increase in bamboo stem ash. The water absorption by the composites increases with immersion time.
*Corresponding Author: Abere D V*, National Metallurgical Development Centre, Jos Nigeria.
Accepted: January 24,2020 Published: March 05, 2020
Citation: Abere D V*, Daramola O O, Ogunronbi M O, Ojo A S, Uzuh F D, Goyol C. G, Abubakar UBS, Oluwagbemi T S, S.J. Danbauchi. et al. “Influence of Bamboo Stem Ash on Some Properties of Polyester Matrix “ SVOA Materials Science and Technology 2:1 (2020) 01-08.
