Effect of industrially processed glass fibre dust on mechanical, thermal and morphological properties mixed with LLDPE for rotational molding process
Authors :- N Gupta, PL Ramkumar
Publication :- Sādhanā, 46, 241, 2021
Rotational molding is an idiosyncratic plastic manufacturing technique that provides a comparatively stress free end product. The base resin extensively preferred for rotomolding is Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE). However, when compared to common engineering materials, pure LLDPE embarks poor mechanical properties targeting few critical applications. Usage of glass fibres as an additive is well known to the researchers in such criteria. But its industrially processed dust is yet to be investigated for rotational molding process. Thus, in the current context, rotationally molded LLDPE based products are investigated wherein glass fibres dust (GFD) are embedded into thermoplastic resin to examine the variation in strength and stiffness of end product. According to preliminary processing tests conducted, approximately 20% and below of LLPDE/GFD composites was observed to provide better fluidity as a prerequisite for rotomoldability. Hence, an experimental study was performed to benchmark the presence of 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% GFD when mixed with LLDPE for rotomolded product. When treating LLDPE/GFD at distinct weight ratio, the rate of heat transfer was also evaluated using the mold, oven, and internal air temperature. The composite's crystallinity was investigated using DSC analysis to assess the concentration of GFD incorporated in LLDPE. Scanning electron microscopy was furthermore utilized to display the underlying mechanisms of LLDPE/GFD ratios. The present work successfully signifies an increase in an overall performance due to the impact of GFD over unreinforced LLDPE. Therefore, it is hypothesized that till 20% GFD addition in the LLDPE matrix is expected to lead a rise in mechanical properties, thus potentially approaching towards retaining the requisite degree of design freedom of rotational molding process.