Effect of particle size on rate sensitivity properties of sawdust reinforced Polyproplene (PP) composites under wide range of strain rates

Abstract

Particle size of natural fillers and strain rate can affect the mechanical properties of composite materials. However, there is limited research was done regarding on sawdust reinforced thermoplastic polymer under wide range of strain rates. Hence, this study is carried out for the purpose of investigating the effect of particle size on the rate sensitivity properties of PP/sawdust composite. In this research, PP/sawdust composite with three different particle sizes of sawdust have been tested under compression loading using Universal Testing Machine for various low strain rates (0.001s-1, 0.01 s- 1and0.1 s-1). The results shows that the mechanical properties like yield strength, ultimate compressive strength and compression modulus of PP/Sawdust composites were greatly affected by the filler particle sizes and strain rate loading. The study found that the rate sensitivity properties of the composite specimens increased as the strain rate increased. For the particle sizes of the filler, the strain rate sensitivity properties decreased as the particle sizes of the fillers increased. From the observations made on the post damage analysis, the composite specimens were found to experience greater deformation under higher strain rate. Overall, natural filler with smaller particle sizes shows better mechanical properties of composite specimens.