FLEXURAL AND QUASI-STATIC COMPRESSIVE BEHAVIOR OF INJECTION-MOLDED WALNUT SHELL (WS)/HDPE COMPOSITES
Author(s):
Suprit Malagi1*, Rajesh Anawal2, S. V. Gorabal3, and Mrityunjay Doddamani2
Affiliation(s):
1Visvesvaraya Technological University, RRC-Belagavi, Karnataka, India
2Lightweight Materials Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, India
3Jain College of Engineering and Research, Udyambag, Belagavi, Karnataka, India
*Corresponding Author Email: [email protected]
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The present study focuses on flexural and quasi-static compression behavior of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/walnut shell (WS) composites. Flexural and quasi-static compression specimens by 20, 40 and 60 wt. % of WS are synthesized by polymer injection (PI) molding. The flexural modulus and strength are observed to increase with increase in the wt.% of WS. Compared to pure HDPE, the flexural modulus and strength increased in the range of 205-403% and 49-58% respectively. Further quasi-static compression tests are carried at 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 s-1 strain rates. Compressive modulus of HDPE/WS specimens is lower as compared to pure HDPE samples for all the strain rates. Compressive yield strength of HDPE/WS specimens shows increasing trend with increase in the strain rates. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is employed to study the fractography of the samples.