RECYCLING OF GLASS FIBER COMPOSITE MATERIAL

Jagadeesh S, Arjun N Final Year, Department of Mechanical Engineering K.S.Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode 637215.

Contact:

jagadeessh@yahoo.com arjunboz@yahoo.co.in

(09787841007) (09042702033)

ABSTRACT Because of increasing environmental demands, especially on dealing with products end of life phase, product manufacturers and designers must consider the future disposal of their products. For conventional materials like steel and aluminum well-functioning recycling methods exists. This is not the case for structures of polymer composites, which are used more extensively, especially for structures like vehicles and vessels. Several techniques do exist but they are not yet commercially available. The current disposal methods of polymer composites are landfill and incineration. Polymer composites are materials, which consist of several materials like fiber, matrix, and additives. This circumstance complicates the Waste treatment of composite materials. Our project deals with Mechanical materials recycling model which is meant to be used as an aid for preparing future disposal of composite materials. In this method certain amount of virgin material is replaced by composite material for specimen fabrication. The sample is tested in UTM to study the mechanical properties and its values are compared against the specimen prepared from virgin material. Generally when recycled material replaces virgin material, mechanical properties such as stiffness and strength are reduced. However by replacing virgin material, 20% of recycled material proves to have lower weight with comparable mechanical properties to virgin alternative. Many investigations have pointed out material recycling as the best alternative considering environmental effects. This is also valid for polymer composite materials. Since recycling thermoset composite it is important to acquire comprehensive information about the constituents of these materials.

INTRODUCTION: Polymer combination properties using composite materials These in

The main alternative used today for handling composite waste is landfill but also waste incineration is an alternative. respond disposal. Mechanical material recycling is selected for composite waste treatment and results are strongly dependent on the choice of virgin materials replaced by the recycled materials. to environmental To awareness

exhibit excellent strength and stiffness in with low density. are especially fuels attractive are

companies require new methods for waste

structures where transport of goods and people non-renewable weight utilized. transport Decreased with equal

capacity lowers the total cost and fuel consumption. For several years now glass fiber composites have been used in products such as containers, pleasure boats and automotive parts. Traditionally carbon and aramid fiber composites are utilized in more demanding applications like aircraft and aerospace industry. This increased use of composites in industry with in production will create continuously more waste to be handled in the future. A common opinion is that recycling thermoset composite materials will be especially difficult or not even possible. This is true at the moment, though research on development of technology and methods for polymer composite recycling has been No ongoing for approximately 15 years.

PURPOSE AND GOAL The purpose of this work is not facilitate planning of waste treatment for polymer composites and the model designed would be useful in developing waste treatment plans for currently existing polymer composite products. The overall goal of the study is to support future planning of waste treatment for composite wastes, to meet more demanding regulations, and to overcome the common opinion that it is impossible to recycle composites.

market for recycled composite materials exists yet. To form a market several preconditions must be met. These involve among others, issues related to infrastructure, amount of material, been met yet. recycling technology and applications. All these preconditions have not

EXPERIMENTAL MATERIALS FIBERS Fibers are the principal constituent in a fiber reinforced composite material. They occupy the volume fraction in a composite laminate and share the major portion of the load acting on a composite structure. Proper selection of the type, amount and orientation of fibers is very important, since it influences the following characteristics of a composite laminate:

Easy air removal and

rapid resin impregnation

Drap well to suit the

surface of intricate moulds Fast wet-through and

wet-out due to excellent styrence solubility of binder Easy handling and

better appearance of the composite parts. Good surface

Specific gravity Tensile strength and modulus Compressive strength and modulus Fatigue strength as well as fatigue MATRIX

bonding and high strand integrity. Compatible with unsaturated polyester resins.

failure mechanisms Cost

The role of matrix in a fiber reinforced composite is To transfer stresses

Commercially available fibers that are used for specimen preparation and their properties are listed below. Chopped strand mat (Emulsion) Chopped strand mat is made of randomly yet evenly distributed strands chopped from continuous E glass fibers into 50 mm length bonded with emulsion binder possesses excellent surface binding efficiency. Properties:

between the fibers against environment To protect the To provide a barrier an adverse

surface of the fibers from mechanical abrasion The matrix plays a minor role in the tensile load carrying capacity of a composite structure. However, selection of a matrix has

a minor influence on the inter-laminar shear as well as in-plane shear properties of the composite material. Polymeric Matrix A polymer is defined as a long chain molecule containing one or more repeating units of atoms, joined together by strong covalent bonds. A polymeric material (commonly called plastic) is a collection of a large number of polymer molecules of similar chemical structure (but not of equal length). In the solid state, these molecules are frozen in space, either in random fashion or in a mixture of random and orderly (folded) fashions (for semi crystalline polymers). Thermo set Polymers: A polymer which forms a three dimensional network of primary bonds with co-valent cross links between chains is a thermosetting plastic. As the suggests, such a polymer becomes set into a given network quickly when it is manufactured, the curing process usually being assisted by pressure. The chemical reaction which, aided by heat, creates the three dimensional network is called curing; and the polymer is said to be cured. Thermosetting plastics do not soften on heating and cannot be reworked. They rather become harder due to completion of any leftover polymerization. Eventually, at high temperatures when the covalent cross links are broken, they destroy the useful properties of

the plastic. This is called degradation. At normal temperatures, the cross links make the solid quite rigid.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The engineering properties material and performance is judged under of by an its

behavior

tensile,

compressive, shear and other static or dynamic loading conditions in both normal and adverse test environments. This information is essential for selection the proper material in a given application as well as designing a structure with the selected material. COMPOSITE FABRICATION A sample is constructed by stacking a number of laminas in the thickness direction. The thickness of a lamina is usually in the range of 0.1 1 mm. Two types of glass fiber lamina are used in sample preparation. They are Chopped strand mat

(Emulsion) Woven Fabric

Random-virgin GFRP Composite: Glass fiber Chopped strand mat / epoxy composite were fabricated by hand lay out method. Matrix material

(araldite LY 556 and hardener HY 951) were prepared in a portion of four parts of epoxy resin and one part of hardener by volume. These two materials were thoroughly mixed and stirred at low speed until it become uniform. The matrix material was applied on the marble stone having smooth surface. After that, glass fiber Chopped strand mat (CSM) if required dimension (6x30cm) was laid on the matrix layer, which was covered by another layer of matrix by applying the matrix onto the surface of CSM. The above procedure is repeated by stacking eight laminas of CSM to form a random laminate. The eight layered composite was cured at room temperature until it was dry. Random Waste GFRP Composite powder The same step mentioned in above sub division (Random-virgin GFRP Composite) is used to make this sample preparation except matrix material. Here matrix material were prepared in a portion of four parts of epoxy resin, one part hardener by volume and 20% of waste GFRP composite powder by weight of fiber used for sample preparation. Multidirectional Composite: In preparing multidirectional laminate both CSM and woven fabrics are used. The same step mentioned in Random Virgin GFRP Composite is followed except Virgin GFRP

the lamina stacking.

Three layers of CSM

lamina and three layers of woven fabric lamina are stacked alternately for fabricating multidirectional laminate. Multidirectional Waste GFRP Composite powder: The same steps mentioned for multidirectional virgin GFRP composite were used for sample preparation except matrix material. The matrix material were prepared in a portion of four parts of epoxy resin, one part hardener by volume and 20% of waste GFRP composite powder by weight of fiber used for sample preparation. TENSILE TEST: After the samples were dried, it was cut using switch board cutting machine to get the dimension of specimen for mechanical testing. The tensile test specimen was prepared (Fig.1 according to ASTM D 638; The specimen is tested in universal testing machine and ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and youngs modulus were determined for both random and multidirectional laminate.

Tensile load(N) 16880 Elongation in Length (%) Yield stress (N/Sq mm) Tensile stress (N/Sq mm) Youngs modulus (N/Sq mm) Fig.1 Tensile test specimen RESULT AND DISCUSSION 77.16 125.6 81.64 4.8

14640

11

48.32

80.53

43.14

Table.1 Mechanical properties of random GFRP composites. Virgin chopped strand mat & bidirectional mat of alternate layers Virgin chopped Strandmat+20% Waste glassfiber powder

The set of mechanical properties of random and multidirectional glass fiber reinforced composite sample are given in the below tables Virgin chopped Description strand mat Virgin chopped Strand mat+20% Waste glass fiber powder

Description

Yield load(N)

13870

9475

Tensile load(N) Elongation in Length (%)

24595.2

15040

7.6

Yield load(N)

10972

8784

Yield stress (N/Sq mm) Tensile stress (N/Sq mm) Youngs modulus (N/Sq mm) 98.28 64.43 44% reduction in Youngs modulus Fig.2 Youngs modulus of random laminate Fig.2 shows the result of the youngs modulus of the virgin and recycled composites of random fiber orientation. It The values of recycled GFRP Composites are considerably reduced than composite samples except for the percentage of elongation in length which increases by nearly 40%. TENSILE STRENGTH The tensile test result depicts that UTS of random virgin GFRP and multidirectional GFRP are 125.6N/sq mm and 183N / sq mm respectively. The UTS of the recycled random and multidirectional GFRP composites were 80.53 N / sq mm and 110.59 N / sq mm respectively. Youngs modulus can be seen that the youngs modulus of the virgin random GFRP composite was greater than the recycled composite. The values of youngs modulus of virgin and recycled composites was 77.16N / sq mm and 43.14N / sq mm respectively, which indicated that youngs modulus decreased by 44% recycled composite. in 183 110.59 103.2 69.97

Table.2 Mechanical properties of multidirectional GFRP composites.

34% reduction in Youngs modulus

Fig.3 Youngs modulus of random laminate It can been seen from the above fig.3 that the youngs modulus of the virgin multidirectional GFRP composite was greater than the recycled composite. The values of youngs modulus of virgin and recycled multidirectional composites was 98.28N / sq mm and 64.43N / sq mm respectively, which indicated that youngs modulus decreased by 34% in recycled composite. From the above graph it is clear that the composite waste powder act as a filler to increase the modulus and tend to reduce its strength.

Table.3 thickness of random and multidirectional glass fiber reinforced composite Table.3 depicts that the thickness of 8 layers random composite of virgin GFRP was 7mm and recycled GFRP was 9 mm. Similarly for multidirectional 6 layers composite of virgin GFRP was 5 mm and that of recycled GFRP was 6.8 mm. It is clear that the thickness is increased powder in recycled the composite. Therefore, the addition of a waste GFRP composite reduces shrinkage of specimen during curing reaction. Description Weight of Weight of virgin recycled material material specimen specimen 52 45 65 37

Random Multidirectional

Table.4 specimen weight Table.4 depicts that the weight of both random and multidirectional specimen Thickness and weight Orientation Random 8 layer composite Multidirectional 6 layer composite Thickness(mm) virgin 7 5 recycled 9 6.8 made from virgin GFRP composite is higher than the specimen made from recycled material. Hence, weight of product prepared from certain amount of recycled material is less when compared with that of product prepared from virgin material. CONCLUSIONS 1. When recycled material

certain replaces certain amount of

virgin

material,

mechanical

7.

Protect

the

environment

properties such as stiffness and strength are reduced. However by replacing virgin material, up to 20% of recycled material prove to have lower weight with comparable mechanical properties to virgin alternative. 2. The environmental impact is lower for material recycling but the cost is higher. 3. Downgrading and reduction More material is of mechanical properties occur in this method. needed to achieve the same strength as of virgin material. 4. filler The recycled material act as material which in turn

and human being from harmful effects of gases while burning the composite material.

REFERENCES: 1. Strength of materials

by Dr.R.K.Bansal. 2. Production

technology by S.Chand.

improves the dimensional stability of specimen and control viscosity of matrix material. 5. Due to addition of recycled material the amount of matrix used for specimen preparation is reduced considerably. Hence, the cost of the product reduced. 6. Weight of product prepared from certain amount of recycled material is less when compared with that of product prepared from virgin material. prepared from certain amount of recycled material is