Publication: Mechanical, hygrothermal aging, electrical and tribological properties of reclaimed short carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate composites
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Date
2021-11-01
Authors
Othman, Ainnur Hanim
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Abstract
The revolution of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite is growing year by year with high value of demand due to their excellent properties led to massive waste generations because carbon fiber (CF) is non-biodegradable material. Although CF had successfully reclaimed, the study on the reclaimed carbon fiber (RCF) composites is limited. The main goal of this research is to compare the mechanical, hygrothermal aging, electrical and tribological properties of RCF reinforced polycarbonate (RCF/PC) composites with virgin CF (VCF) reinforced PC (VCF/PC) composites. All samples were compounded by using single screw extruder and fabricated using injection moulding machine. Mechanical properties were characterized by tensile, flexural and fracture toughness testing while electrical properties were investigated by surface and volume resistivity tests. Tribological
properties were deduced by specific wear rate and friction coefficient by performing abrasive wear using pin-on-disc machine. The effect of hygrothermal aging at different
immersion temperatures (room temperature and 60 ℃) were determined and flexural testing was conducted to determine the retention ability and recoverability of the composites. Fractured and worn surfaces of selected samples were observed by fractography studies using a scanning electron microscope and the failure mechanism was elucidated. Interfacial shear strength (τi) of the composites was identified by using Bowyer and Bader mathematical approach while theoretical comparison of tensile strength was computed by Rule of Mixture, Kelly-Tyson and Halpin-Tsai models. The results showed that all mechanical properties improved with the incorporation of both RCF and VCF into PC matrix. It is interesting to note that RCF/PC showed relatively better properties than VCF/PC composites in all CF loadings. Specific wear rate and friction coefficient decreased after inclusion of CF into PC and again, RCF/PC has better tribological properties than VCF/PC composites. In the case of hygrothermal aging, all materials showed Fickian diffusion behaviour. The flexural properties of all materials reduced after aging and almost fully recovered upon redrying. In between 10 to 15 weigh percent (wt. %) CF, both composites showed a critical percolation threshold where the occurrence of electrically insulative to conductive transition. The theoretical analysis performed using specified that Kelly-Tyson proven to be the best model to predict the tensile strength due to the closest prediction to the experimental data in comparison with other models. In short, it was found that utilisation of RCF
could produce quality PC composites under the experimental works reported in this thesis.