A.A. Faieza

Flexural Mechanical Characteristic of Sawdust and Chipwood Filled Epoxy Composites

A study was conducted with the objective of gathering the information through flexural (three-point bending) testing. This research presents the testing results concerning the mechanical properties, modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) of natural fiber reinforced composite. Resin were used as a matrix and untreated wood fibres contents 14% by weight as a filler treatment parameters to obtain better compatibility involving wood fibres Sawdust (SW) and Chipwood (CW) and epoxy. The feasibility of processing the composite prepared manually from waste wood and epoxy using open molding was investigated. The tests that have been conducted are in according to ASTM (D790-97) for flexural properties test method. Statistical analysis using ANOVA one way and two way showed that the differences of results obtained from those SW and CW fiber composite samples are significant, which confirm a very firm mechanical performance of the composites through flexural tests. This shows the producing a good quality of SW and CW fibre composite which maybe can use for furniture utilities.

Combination of Adaptive Enlargement and Reduction in the Search Neighbourhood in the Bees Algorithm

The Bees Algorithm, a heuristic optimisation procedure that mimics bees foraging behaviour, is becoming more popular among swarm intelligence researchers. The algorithm involves neighbourhood and global search and is able to find promising solutions to complex multimodal optimisation problems. The purpose of neighbourhood search is to intensify the search effort around promising solutions, while global search is to enable avoidance of local optima. Despite numerous studies aimed at enhancing the Bees Algorithm, there have not been many attempts at studying neighbourhood search. In this work, the combination of adaptive enlargement and reduction of the search neighbourhood is presented. Two engineering design problems with constraints which were the pressure vessel and speed reducer were selected to demonstrate the performance of the modified algorithm. The experimental results obtained showed that this combination is beneficial to the proposed algorithm.

Performance of Aluminium Alloy Side Door Subjected to Pole Impact Test

This paper presents the performance of Aluminium Alloy side door subjected to side pole impact test. Aluminium Alloy is used in order to reduce the overall car weight. Therefore further improvements of the Aluminium Alloy side door system were carried out to obtain similar crash performance with the conventional steel side door system. The main crash performance properties are the internal energy, bending displacement, and mass. These properties were used to simulate the pole impact test using LS-DYNA Finite Element software. The improvements techniques used involved parameters such as thickness variation of the parts, ribs addition, beam shape variations, and combination of the factors. From the tests, three designs which include combination of parameters have met the target requirements. Thus, the use of Aluminium Alloy in side door system is acceptable provided there are improvements regarding the crash performance.

Tensile Properties and Micromorphologies of Sawdust and Chipwood Filled Epoxy Composites

In this study, waste wood product obtained from the timber industry originating from various type of wood has been investigated. Research work carried out on the three different sizes of fiber derived from the sawdust (SW) and chip wood (CW). The SW and CW fiber and epoxy resin were blended together respectively using hand tools machine, all specimens of fiber composite were prepared accordance to the ASTM standards. Tensile and morphological properties provide an excellent measure of the degree of reinforcement provided by the fiber to the composite. The tensile modulus increased with the filler size from coast to rough of composites both SW and CW but decreases steadily with the wood–fiber size from rough to soft content. Statistical analysis using one way and two ways analysis of variances (ANOVA) showed that the differences of results obtained from those SW and CW fiber composite samples are significant, which confirm a very firm mechanical performance of the composites through tensile tests. This shows the producing a good quality of SW and CW fibres composite which maybe used for home furniture utilities.

Coating Performance in High Speed Micro Machining of H13 Tool Steel

The development and application of Titanium Aluminium Nitrate (TiAlN) coatings for cutting tools has led to dramatic tool life extension and the realisation of high speed machining for hardened materials. This results in longer tool life and makes it possible to employ higher cutting speeds and feed rates. In this study, a series of different TiAlN based coatings on micro grains solid carbides were tested on H13 Tool Steel. These advanced coatings are commercially available by coating manufacturer which are trade marks of Balzers UK. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the performance of micro tools coated with these coatings and compare with uncoated tools. The results will be used to determine whether coatings for micro tools will have any impact on the performance of the tools such as reducing cutting forces or improving machining quality. This will be achieved by means of analysing the cutting force data and 3-D surface roughness respectively. Result obtained shows that different coating had different performance, hence can be applied to specifically targeted machining operation. The results also highlight some of the differences in wear mechanism of micro tools.

Crashworthiness Determination of Side Doors and B Pillar of a Vehicle Subjected to Pole Side Impact

Pole Side Impact Test is one out of three crash tests described by Euro NCAP standard for star rating of a vehicle and is required for assessing the Adult Occupant Protection. In this paper the goal is to determine the crashworthiness of side doors and B pillar in a Pole Side Impact Test based on Euro New Car Assessment Program (Euro-NCAP) using computer and simulation method. In this matter, a vehicle model has been prepared and meshed using Hypermesh and CATIA. The velocity of 29 km/h has been assigned to the vehicle which was on top of a cart while the pole has been assigned as a rigid static object based on Euro NCAP requirements specifically. Results show that different amounts of energy will be absorbed by each part, such as the side doors and the B pillar, and each part has a different effect on the crashworthiness of the vehicle in a Pole Side Impact Test. It can be concluded that to increase the amount of absorbed energy in a Pole Side Impact Test, the part which has more influence should be taken into greater consideration.

Investigation on Adult Occupant Protection in Car Pole Side Impact Using Various Material and Thickness of Side Doors and B Pillar

In this paper the objective is to study the effect of the material and thickness of the side doors and B pillar on crashworthiness and the energy absorbed in order to select a proper material and an optimized thickness to approach a five star car concept based on the Euro New Car Assessment Program (Euro-NCAP) testing Pole Side Impact. In this matter, four materials and five thicknesses have been chosen for the vehicle model and a total of twenty simulations have been conducted. The results showed that the best selected materials and thicknesses were high strength Steel 204M with a thickness of 1.2mm for side doors and 0.65mm for the B pillar, however, it is important to note that this selection is to maximize the absorbed energy not necessarily to reduce the total weight of the vehicle.

Effect of Filler Loading and Coupling Agent on Tensile and Impact Properties of Polypropylene with Oil Palm Ash Composites

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of filler loading and using coupling agent on tensile and impact properties of thermoplastic polypropylene composite with oil palm ash (OPA) powder. This research is intended to discover the dependant various effect of loading percentage weight of filler OPA and coupling agent maleated anhydrate polypropilene (MAPP) on tensile and impact properties of thermoplastic composite. This materials is weighed as OPA loading percentage 0%, 1%, 3%, 5% and 7% while the loading percentage of coupling agent MAPP 0%, 3%, 6%, 10% and 12% affect the mechanical properties of thermoplastic composite. Mixture process has been carried out using double-screwed extruder machine at constant speed and temperature,while board manufacturing of PP/OPA composite are made used hot press and cold press machine. Loading OPA and MAPP effect on polypropylene composite were tested through mechanical testing , specifically for tensile and impact properties. All testing methods are predicated from ASTMs standard (American Society for Testing and Material). Results showed lower OPA content and highest MAPP in ratio giving the highest tensile and impact strength of the composite.

Investigation of Thickness Influences on Energy Absorption for Side Doors and B Pillar in Euro NCAP Pole Side Impact Test

To assess a car under the Euro New Car Assessment Program (Euro-NCAP), Adult Occupant Protection is one out of three parameters which need to be calculated with a weight factor of 50% while the other parameters, Child Occupant Protection and Pedestrian Occupant Protection, have a weight factor of 20%. The Pole Side Impact Test, beside two other tests, Side & Front Impact, is also required to calculate the Adult Occupant Protection. It shows how important the Pole Side Impact Test is and what an effective role it has in the car rating assessment. In this paper, the objective is to evaluate the effect of thickness on the energy absorbed by the side doors and the B pillar and its crashworthiness in a Pole Side Impact Test based on the Euro NCAP. In this matter, a vehicle model has been designed and prepared using CATIA and meshed using Hypermesh. Five thicknesses have been chosen including 0.6 mm, 1 mm, 1.2 mm, 1.4 mm and the original thickness of the side doors, 0.75 mm. The simulations have been repeated, using LS DYNA solver, assigning each of five thicknesses to the side doors and the B pillar of the vehicle. Initial conditions defined by the Euro NCAP, including velocity and directions, have been applied to the model. A total of 5 simulations have been conducted. The results showed that changing the thickness of the side doors and the B pillar does not necessarily have a direct influence on energy absorbed. The conclusion is that there are different proper thicknesses for each part which will result in optimized energy absorption.

Improved Maintenance for Energy Optimization in the Calcium Compound Processing Industry

Malaysian industries, in general consider energy management a burden and non-profitable. Energy management initiatives are also viewed as a Cost-Centre. An Excel spreadsheet was therefore tailor-designed, which meets the requirements of the plant for energy optimization and management. The spreadsheet is grouped to reflect four parts, namely: plan, do, check and commit. This Plan-Do-Check-Commit cycle is based on the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. This spreadsheet has been developed with the objective of developing a tool that would be comprehensive, simple and flexible, open to be modified and tailored for the industries. The results indicated that there are opportunities for a more effective and structured approach to energy management in industry. An initial reduction of 5% in energy consumption has been recorded and it is the company’s responsibility to ensure that their energy management becomes part of their corporate culture.