OPTIMISATION STUDIES ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NEEM BARK FLOUR-FILLED HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE COMPOSITES USING CENTRAL COMPOSITE DESIGN. - See more at: http://www.journalijar.com/article/9154/optimisation-studies-on-the-mechanical-properties-of-neem-bark-flour-filled-high-density-polyethylene-composites-using-central-composite-design./#sthash.eDbYZ8Lr.dpuf

This research is carried out to study the effect of filler content and the particle size on the mechanical properties of neem bark flour-filled high density polyethylene composites. The fiber was characterized. Response surface methodology was used to optimize the preparation of the composite. A second order polynomial model was developed to predict the mechanical properties based on central composite design. The results show that the neem bark used for this study contains 9.04% lignin, 65.43% cellulose, 23.55% hemicellulose. It was found that the composite design was best fit for a quadratic regression model. The selected optimum condition for this composite is 21.63 mesh particle size and 40wt% filler content at 77.7% desirability. The mechanical properties at optimum are 14.51MPa, 5.28%, 0.45GPa, 92.31KJ/m2, and 242.14Pa for tensile strength, percentage elongation, tensile modulus, impact strength and hardness respectively. The optimum conditions were validated with little error less than 0.2%. - See more at:.