Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
One of the most important agricultural products in the northeast of Portugal is
sweet chestnuts. In this region only, several tons of this product are produced
every year. Sweet chestnuts are enclosed in a hedgehog covered with a large
number of short and fine spines and containing more than one nut. This
hedgehog, with long spines, does not have any commercial value, and they
are considered an agricultural waste that is left in the fields to be incorporated
into the soil. In this work, the authors propose to study the influence of some
factors in the short-fiber non-woven chestnut hedgehog spine-reinforced
polyester composite performance. For this purpose, the tensile properties of
chestnut spines were determined by implementing a design of experiments
(DOE) approach developed by Taguchi. Thus, the factors that will be controlled
are the fiber dispersion which is defined by fiber/matrix mass ratio or weight
fraction, the interfacial strength that could be improved using an alkali–silane
treatment and, finally, the moisture level in the fibers. For each factor, three
levels were used, an L9 orthogonal array of experiments was implemented to
evaluate tensile and flexural properties. These properties were determined
based on results of 54 tests, and the maximum mean values for tensile and
flexural strength were 23.5 MPa and 33.6 MPa, respectively. The most influential
factor for maximizing the tensile strength was the volume fraction of fiber
with a contribution of 30%, and most influential factor for maximizing the
flexural strength was the moisture level with a contribution of 65%. The
determined mean value of tensile strength of the spines was 148 MPa.
Description
Keywords
Chestnut hedgehog spine Composite Manufacturing factors Mechanical properties Natural fibers Polyester
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Ribeiro, J. E.; Rocha, J.; Queijo, L. (2021). The Influence of Manufacturing Factors in the Short-Fiber Non-Woven Chestnut Hedgehog Spine-Reinforced Polyester Composite Performance. Journal of Natural Fibers. ISSN 1544-0478. p. 1307-1319