Al-Khwarizmi

Engineering
Journal
Al-Khwarizmi Engineering Journal,Vol. 13, No. 1, P.P. 42- 49 (2017)

Experimental Study to the Effect of Natural Particles Added to

Unsaturated Polyester Resin of a Polymer Matrix Composite

Orhan S. Abdullah
Department of Mechanical Engineering /University of Technology.
Email: [email protected]

(Received 13 April 2015; accepted 4 August 2016)

https://doi.org/10.22153/kej.2017.08.004

Abstract
Experimental investigations had been done in this study to demonstrate the effect of natural particles used as a
reinforcement material to unsaturated polyester resin. The tensile test and water absorption were investigated according
to (ASTM D638) and (ASTM D570), respectively. The influence of sunflower husk and pomegranate husk particles,
used as a reinforcement material, on the tensile strength, Young's modulus and water absorption with different weight
fraction (3%, 7% and 10%) and particle grain size (50µ m, 100 µm and 150 µm), has been investigated. The water
absorption of polymer composites was studied by measuring the specimen weight before and after immersion in water
for one hundred days. In the experiments of tensile test, all specimens loading was performed with (50KN) operating at
a crosshead speed of 10 mm/min. It is observed that the addition of sunflower husk up to 10% and pomegranate husk
particles up to 7% as reinforcement materials to polyester resin, leads to increase the tensile strength and Young's
modulus of the composite material prepared and the use of sunflower husk as a reinforcement material increased the
tensile strength, Young's modulus and water absorption were better than pomegranate husk at the same percentage of
addition. The decrease in reinforcement material grain size led to increase the tensile strength, Young's modulus and
water absorption. Therefore, all the best result seen in composites containing reinforcement material with (50µ m).
Finally, the best result obtained in tensile strength, Young's modulus and water absorption were with the addition of
10% sunflower husk as a reinforcement material to polyester resin.

Keywords: Polyester, Polymer composite; Pomegranate husk, Sunflower husk.

1. Introduction There are two main type of polymer will used as

matrix material, thermoplastic and thermoset.
From thousands years, human has tried to Thermoplastic is able to reformed after
improve the available materials in their solidification like nylon and polyethylene, while
surroundings to preferable the life of the people thermoset is a material when solidification cannot
around him and the community in overall. These be reformed like epoxy and polyester [2].
attempts had led to different research over the The composite material is a result of two
years to find alternatives materials. A lot of phases, the first one called the matrix, while the
studies had done on composite material to second called the reinforcements phase. The
investigate this new material specially polymer characteristic of composite materials is dependent
matrix composite which be capable substitute in on the characteristic of the two phase's common in
the different industrial applications, when the preparation of the composite material [2].
compared to old used materials. Also the studies In recent years, many studies have been done
show that the using of polymer composite gave a for natural fillers like coconut shell, pomegranate
better performance than ceramics, polymeric core, pineapple leaf, ginger, palm kernel, etc. as
materials or alloys [1]. fillers in order to substitute the conventional
fillers by using the natural fillers as a
Orhan S. Abdullah Al-Khwarizmi Engineering Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, P.P. 42- 49(2017)

reinforcement material in polymer matrix decreases with rising kaolin content. It is also
composites to decrease the cost, rise productivity observed that mechanical properties increase with
beside the enhancement of the mechanical decrease in particle size in all cases.
properties[3]. Shaimaa H. Kamel [11] study the effect of grapes
In order to obtain the tensile strength and the and dates particles reinforced polyester matrix
Young's modulus many researchers modified composite on some of the mechanical properties,
polymers using different natural fillers. N. W. A. the results showed that the tensile strength and the
Razak and A. Kalam [4] studied the effect of oil Young's modulus of filled unsaturated polyester
palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) on the increase with the increment of the percentage of
mechanical properties and water absorption grapes and dates particles. Also that the
behaviour of OPEFB /PPnanoclay /PP hybrid percentage of (3.5 %) represents the greatest value
composites. They observed that the increase of for the modulus of elasticity for unsaturated
OPEFB fibre size has increased it flexural polyester reinforced with dates particle and the
strength, modulus and water absorption at smaller percentage of (5 %) represents the greatest value
OPEFB fibre size. for the modulus of elasticity for unsaturated
Moayad A. M. [5] study the effects of rice husk polyester reinforced with grapes particle.
fillers on the mechanical properties of rubber The aim of this research is to investigate the
composite and he discover that the increase in effect of adding pomegranate husk and sunflower
volume fraction of reinforcement materials leads husk in different grain size and weight fraction to
to increase in young modulus and hardness. polyester resin on tensile strength, young's
Mohammed Almamory et.al[6] studied the effects modulus and water absorption.
of shells powder on mechanical and physical
properties of nature rubber, and they observed that
the tensile strength and the hardness of the 2. Experimental details
composite material will improved after the 2.1 Materials
addition of reinforcement material. 2.1.1 Matrix Material
S. I. Durowaye [7] studied the mechanical
behaviour of coconut shell and palm fruit Unsaturated polyester used as a matrix material
particulate polyester composites in order to produced by (SIR). It is in liquid state at room
develop an engineering material for industrial temperature but after adding the hardener will
application. The results show the maximum change to solid state. The hardener used to this
strength that the coconut shell and palm fruit purpose Methyl Ethyl Keton Peroxide with
particulate polyester composites can withstand mixing ratio 1:50 hardener to polyester resin at
while being stretched or pulled before breaking, room temperature. After the adding of hardener to
their weight % (reinforcement) must be kept the resin the process of mixing will start and keep
below 10%. for 10 minutes till the homogenous will completed
Aseel Basim et.al [8] Studied the mechanical [2].
properties for polymer matrix composite material
reinforced by nature filler, they used both high
density polyethylene (HDPE), and low density
2.1.2 Reinforcement Material
polyethylene (LDPE) as matrix to the composite
The particle were collected and crashed by
material and used coconut shell particles and fish
using an electrical mill. The particulates were
shell particles as reinforced fillers. They observed
received by vibratory sieve shaker to get a
that the addition of nature fillers improve the
suitable size of (150, 100, 50 µm).
mechanical properties.
Aseel Basim et.al[9] studied the effects of nature
material (Rice Husk Ash, Carrot Powder, and 2.2 Specimens Preparation
Sawdust) as filler to fiber glass / epoxy composite
on mechanical properties; they observed that the Hand layup technique was used in this research
addition of fillers leads to incremental increase in to prepare the specimens. Glass mould used to
water absorption, hardness, flexural strength and casting the composite material specimens with
shear stress with increasing in volume fraction. dimension of (200, 150, and 5) mm as shown in
Jabbar H.[10] study the tensile and compressive Figure (1) The inner face of the mould was
properties of kaolin reinforced epoxy; he observed covered with a layer of Vaseline to ensure no-
the tensile and yield strength of the composites adhesion between the polymeric material and the

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Orhan S. Abdullah Al-Khwarizmi Engineering Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, P.P. 42- 49(2017)

mould. The specimens were prepared by mixing 3.2. Young's Modulus

the unsaturated polyester with pomegranate husk
and sunflower husk powder by using different The Young's modulus can be obtained by
grain size and weight fraction of (3%, 7%, and calculating the slope of the stress- strain curve for
10%) according to roll of mix in term weight the tensile test in the proportional limit zone [12].
fraction as shown in equations (1), (2) and (3).
…(6)
wp
Wp = × 100 00 …(1)
Where:
wc
E: Young's modulus (Pa), σ: Stress (Pa), : strain
w (unit less).
Wm = m ×100 0 0 … (2)
wc
W p + Wm = 1 … (3) 3.3 Water Absorption
Where:
Wm, Wp: The weight fraction of matrix material Disc specimens were prepared with diameter
and particles respectively. of 40 mm and thickness 5mm in order to obtain
wc, wm, wp: Weight of composite material, matrix the water absorption of the composite material.
material and particles respectively. The specimens weighted before and after
The particles were supplementary to polyester and immersion in water according to ASTM D 570
hardener and then they were homogeneously standard as shown in figure (5). The increase in
mixed at room temperature inside the molud and the weight of the specimens was calculated by
then left 24 hours for solidification completed. using equation (7).
Water absorption

3. Mechanical and physical Tests ..(7)

The specimens were immersion for one hundred
3.1 Tensile Test days in water and it was weighted every ten days.

Tensile test was used to study the effect of

axial load applied to the specimen by using tensile
testing machine (Tensile test H50KT (TINIUS
OLSEN)) England (UK) /mechanical engineering
department /university of technology shown in
figure (2). All the specimen have the same test
conditions, the applied load was (50 KN), and the
operating speed 10 mm/min. figure (3) shows
some of the flat specimens was prepared to the
purpose of tensile testing with different
reinforcement particles grain size and weight
fraction according to tensile test equations (4) &
(5) and the American standard (ASTM D638)
with thickness (5mm) as shown in figure (4).
…(4)

= …(5)

σ: Stress (Pa), F: Applied load (N), AO:

Original area (mm2), : strain (unit less), ∆L:
length change (mm), Lf: final length (mm), Lo:
original length (mm).
Fig. 1. The moulds shape.

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Orhan S. Abdullah Al-Khwarizmi Engineering Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, P.P. 42- 49(2017)

Fig . 2. Tensile test machine. Fig . 3. Tensile test specimens.

Fig. 4. Tensile test standard Fig. 5. Water absorption specimen.

4. Result and Discussion

4.1 Tensile Test

From Figure (6), it can observe that the

addition of sunflower husk particles as a
reinforcement materials leads to increase the
tensile strength with the increasing in weight
fraction of the reinforcement material by (11.6%,
31.5%, and 46.6%) respectively with particle
grain size (50 µm) due to the high linkage
between polyester and sunflower husk particles
which leads to increase the resistance against the
Fig. 6. Effect of sunflower husk particles on tensile
applied axial load. Also from the same figure it
strength.
can recognize that the decrease in particles grain
size leads to raising the tensile strength, because
of that the decreasing in particles size leads to Figure (7) shows the stress- strain curves of
more contact between the matrix material and pure polyester and (3%,7% and 10%) sunflower
sunflower husk particles. husk (SH) weight fraction respectively with
(50µm) grain size.

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Orhan S. Abdullah Al-Khwarizmi Engineering Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, P.P. 42- 49(2017)

addition of reinforcement particles which added to

unsaturated polyester resin. Sunflower husk
particles work to prevent the polyester chains
from slipping and this leads to increase the
Young's modulus. The addition of 10 % sunflower
husk particles with grain size (50 µm) gives the
highest Young's modulus with increasing by
27.2% better than unsaturated polyester resin
specimen. Analogous demeanor was seen by
Shaimaa H. Kamel [11] with the addition of
grapes particles to unsaturated polyester up to 5%
these quantities of grapes particles strengthen the
Fig. 7. Stress-Strain curves of different weight polyester specimen and increase the young's
fraction of sunflower husk. modulus.

While Figure (8) show the effects of

pomegranate husk particles on tensile strength with
different particle grain size and weight fraction,
from this figure it can see that the addition of
particles leads to increasing in tensile strength due
to increasing of pomegranate husk percentage till
7% after this percent the tensile strength will be
decreases with all particle grain size, a similar
behavior was seen by S. I. Durowaye et.al[7] we
use coconut shell and palm fruit particles as a
reinforcement material to polyester resin this may
be due to increase in discontinuity between the Fig. 9. Effect of sunflower husk particles on Young's
particles surface and the matrix as the modulus.
reinforcement concentration increases in the two
composites. Figure (10) appears the behavior of Young's
modulus after adding pomegranate husk particles
with different weight fraction and particles grain
size to unsaturated polyester resin. It can be
observed that the addition of pomegranate husk
particles with any particle size was used increase
the Young's modulus up to 7% percent, while
after this percent the Young's modulus values
starting decrease.

Fig. 8. Effect of pomegranate husk particles on

tensile strength.

4.2 Young's Modulus

The relationship between the Young's modulus

and sunflower husk particles percentage was Fig. 10. Effect of pomegranate husk particles on
shown in Figure (9). It can notice that the young's modulus.
increasing in Young's modulus causing be the

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Orhan S. Abdullah Al-Khwarizmi Engineering Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, P.P. 42- 49(2017)

4.3. Water Absorption pomegranate husk. In the same filled Alaa

A.Mohammed [13] and Hussein .A.Ali [14] have
Water absorption behaviors of the composite in similar result where using different particles grain
water immersion against the time in (days) are size the lowest particle size have the highest water
shown in Figures (11) and (12). The addition of absorption due to the decrease in contact area with
sunflower husk and pomegranate husk particles the matrix.
leads to increase the water absorption with the
increasing in immersion time. A similar behavior
was seen by and N. W. A. Razak and A. Kalam
[4] Aseel Basim et.al [8] with the addition of
natural fiber or particles the water absorption
increase with the increasing in immersion time
which leads to increase the humidity and decrease
the adhesion between the matrix material and the
reinforcement material made the composite
material may be containing voids and porosity.

Fig. 13. Effect of sunflower husk and pomegranate

husk grain size particles on water absorption.

*All abbreviations and symbols shown in Table (1)

5. Conclusions

From the up results it can conclude the

following:
Fig. 11. Effect of sunflower husk particles on water 1- The addition of sunflower husk up to 10% and
absorption. pomegranate husk particles up to 7% as
reinforcement materials to polyester resin leads
to increase the tensile strength and Young's
modulus of the composite material prepared.
2- Using of sunflower husk as a reinforcement
material increase the tensile strength and
Young's modulus better than pomegranate
husk at the same percentage of addition.
3- The water absorption of composite material
prepared in this research increase with the
increasing of reinforcement material weight
fraction.
4- The addition of 10% sunflower husk as a
reinforcement material to polyester resin give
Fig. 12. Effect of pomegranate husk particles on the best result in tensile strength and young's
water absorption. modulus, where the tensile strength and
young's modulus increasing by (46.6%,27.2%)
respectively.
Figure (13) show the difference in water 5- The decreasing in reinforcement material grain
absorption values at using varies particles grain size leads to increase the tensile strength,
size as a reinforcement material. The results show Young's modulus and water absorption. There
that the decrease in particle grain size leads to for all the best result seen in composites
increase the water absorption and the use of containing reinforcement material with
sunflower husk have water absorption high than (50µm).

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Table 1, [7] S. I. Durowaye1,*, G. I. Lawal, M. A.

List of abbreviations and symbols Akande1, V. O. Durowaye, "Mechanical
6- Properties of Particulate Coconut Shell and
Abbreviations Meaning Units Palm Fruit Polyester", International Journal
and Symbols of Materials Engineering 2014, 4(4): 141-147
HDPE High Density - Composites.
Polyethylene
[8] Aseel Basim Abdul-Hussein, Emad Saadi
LDPE Low Density -
Polyethylene AL-Hassani, and Reem Alaa Mohammed,
OPEFB Oil Palm Empty Fruit - "Effect of Nature Materials Powders on
Bunch Mechanical and Physical Properties of Glass
ASTM American Society of - Fiber / Epoxy Composite", Engineering and
Testing and Materials Technology Journal, Vol.33, part (A), no.1,
SH Sunflower Husk - 2015.
P pomegranate - [9] Aseel Basim Abdul-Hussein, Emad Saadi
SIR Saudi Industrial Resins - AL-Hassani, and Reem Alaa Mohammed,
"Influence of Coating with Some Natural
Based Materials on the Erosion Wear
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[4] N. W. A. Razak, and A. Kalam, " Effect of "Strength of Materials", Third Edition,
OPEFB Size on the Mechanical Properties Harper &Row publishers, New York, 1980.
and Water Absorption Behaviour of [13] Alaa A. Mohammed, "Study the Thermal
OPEFB/PPnanoclay/PP Hybrid Composites", Properties and Water Absorption of
Procedia Engineering, Vol.41, p.p1593 – Composite Material Reinforced with Data
1599, 2012. and Olive Seeds", the Iraqi Journal for
[5] Moayad A. M., "Effects of Rice Husk Filler Mechanical and Material Engineering,
on the Mechanical and Rheogical properties Vol.15, No2, 2015.
of Rubber Component Based on Natural [14] Hussein, A. Ali. , Salim, R. D. & Sultan, A.
Rubber", The Iraqi Journal for Mechanical Ali, "Water Absorption and Mechanical
and Material Engineering, Vol.13, No.2, Properties of High-Density Polyethylene/Egg
2013. Shell Composite", Journal of Basrah
[6] Mohammed Almamory et.al, "Effect of Researches (Sciences), Vol. (37), No.
Shells Powder on Physical Properties of (3A/15), (2011).
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