Santiagoo Ragunathan

Recent Advances in Polyolefins/Natural Polymer Blends Used for Packaging Application

This article reviews the recent advances made in polyolefin and natural polymer blends used for packaging applications, with a focus on their degradation. Nondegradable polymers are now considered as a serious environmental problem, and they have become an enormous challenge to waste management. Hence, the degradable polymers are practical solutions to reduce the municipal solid waste (MSW) caused by the use of nondegradable polymers. These degradable options can be produced from three kinds of natural sources:- (1) polysaccharides—starch, cellulose, chitin and chitosan; (2) proteins—soya, wheat gluten, collagen/gelatine; and (3) speciality polymers—such as lignin, natural rubber. One major challenge to producing a degradable blend with the desired properties is merging the hydrophilic characteristics of natural polymers with the hydrophobic characteristics of polyolefin. The aim of this review is to offer a complete overview of polyolefin/natural polymer blends researched for packaging applications.

Classification of Domestic Burning Smell using Covariance k- Nearest Neighbour Algorithm for Early Fire Detection Application

Fire is one of the most common hazards in households. It is the fifth leading unintentional cause of injury and death, behind motor vehicle crashes, falls, poisoning by solids or liquids, and drowning. It also ranks as the first cause of death for children under the age of 15 at home. Roughly, 80 percent of all fire deaths occur in places where people sleep, such as in homes, dormitories, barracks, or hotels. 74% of the deaths result from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms while surveys report that 96% of all homes have at least one smoke alarm. Nearly all home and other building fires are preventable. No fire is inevitable. Determination of burning smell is important because it can help in early fire detection and prevention. This preliminary study discusses the development of a fire sensing system that is not only capable of detecting fire in its early stage but also of classifying the fire based on the smell of the smoke in the environment. A domestic burning smell classification system for early fire detection application has been proposed using new covariance k-nearest neighbour (Ck-NN) algorithm. The experiments were performed on recorded smell samples from combustion of ten different commonly available domestic odour sources, including candle, joss sticks, air freshener, mosquito coil, newspaper, card board, plastic materials, Styrofoam and wood. All the experiments were done in a test chamber with humidity and temperature sensors. Portable Electronic Nose (PEN3) from AirSense Analytics is used as the measurement device. The smell source is placed 0.3m from the PEN3 and the time-series signal is measured for two minutes. The odour metrics consist of 66000 odour samples are modelled using Ck-NN algorithm. It is found that the average mean classification accuracy for the model is 99.63%.

Effects of Oven Ageing on Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE)/ Recycled Acrylonitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBRr)/ Rice Husk Powder (RHP) Composites

The thermal degradation of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE)/ recycled acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBRr)/ rice husk powder (RHP) composites with and without epoxidized nature rubber (ENR-50) were studied. The thermal degradation of this composite was evaluated for 30 days using oven ageing. The NBRr content was manipulated in this work and the particle size for the rice husk powder was 150-300 μm. The composites were prepared by using two-roll mills at 180 °C and then were compressed at 180 °C to produce a 1 mm thin sheets. The dumbbell samples then were analysed by using universal testing machine and field emission screening electron microscopy for tensile and morphological properties. The results obtained showed that tensile strength was decreased with the increasing of NBRr content for both oven ageing and control composites. However the oven ageing composites recorded much lower tensile properties. This may possibly due to the chain session of LDPPE matrix at longer heat exposure duration. This finding is supported by the morphological micrograph with less ductile features of the respective specimens.

Crystallinity and Influence of Citric Acid as a Compatibilizer in Low Density Polyethylene/Jackfruit Seed Flour Blends

The properties of blends made from low density polyethylene (LDPE) with various concentration of jackfruit seeds flour (JSF) with the presence of citric acid (CA) were investigated. The JSF content was varied from 0 to 20 wt%. The JSF were blended with LDPE by using an internal mixer (Brabender) at a temperature of 150°C. The test was carried out by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), with heating temperature of 100C/min. The crystallinity had improved with the presence of CA. However, the crystallinity slightly reduced with the increasing JSF content and further increased with the presence of CA.

Thermal Properties of Low Density Polyethylene/Jackfruit Seed Flour Blends-Effect of Hexanedioic Acid

The effects of adding hexanedioic acid (HA) into low density polyethylene (LDPE)/jackfruit seeds (JSF) blends on the properties were investigated by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The influence of the crystallinity and thermal properties of HA on LDPE at various compositions was investigated. JSF was blended with LDPE by using internal mixer (Brabender) at temperature 150°C. JSF content was varied from 0 to 20 wt%. Crystallinity of the blends was significantly reduced with increasing JSF content and further increased with the presence of HA. Therefore, the crystallinity of the blends was improved with the presence of HA.

Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Polylactic Acid Filled Rice Straw

Natural fiber reinforced polylactic acid based biocomposites are broadly considered by the researchers to compete with non-renewable petroleum based products. In this study, the biodegradable composites which are the polylactic acid, PLA and rice straw, RS were prepared by using heated two roll-mill at 180°C. Mechanical properties showed that the tensile strength and elongation at break, Eb decreased with the increasing of RS while the Young’s modulus had increased. The TGA results confirmed that thermal stability of PLA with RS composites decreased when the RS fiber loading increased.

Probabilistic neural network based olfactory classification for household burning in early fire detection application

Determination of burning smell is important because it can help in early fire detection and prevention. In this paper, a household burning smell classification system for early fire detection application has been proposed using Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) and PCA analysis. The experiments were performed on recorded smell samples from combustion of ten different commonly available household, including candle, joss sticks, air freshener, mosquito coil, newspaper, card board, plastic materials, Styrofoam and wood. All the experiments were done in a test chamber with humidity and temperature sensors. Portable Electronic Nose (PEN3) from Airsense Analytics is used as the measurement device. The smell source is placed 0.3m from the PEN3 and the time-series signal is measured for two minutes. The odour metrics is modelled using Probabilistic Neural Network. It is found that the average classification accuracy for the model is 99.62%.

Tensile and Morphological Properties of Low Density Polyethylene/Spear Grass Composites

The spear grass content on the tensile properties, morphology of low-density polyethylene (LDPE)/spear grass was investigated. The compatibilising effect of epoxidised natural rubber (ENR 50) LDPE and spear grass was mixed by using twin screw extruder with various spear grass contents. The tensile properties were tested by using an Universal Testing Machine (UTM). The tensile strength and elongation at the break point were significantly improved by the addition of ENR 50, as evidenced by morphological analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). On the other hand, the tensile modulus increased with spear grass content up to 10% and decreased thereafter.Keywords: Epoxidised Natural rubber (ENR), Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Spear Grass, Tensile Properties

The Behaviours of Steel Fiber as Main Reinfocement in High Performance Slurry Infiltrated Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Concrete is a structure that very weak in tension and need additional material to enhance their structural capacity. In 18th century, concrete have been recognized as structure that very weak in tension [. Thus, concrete need additional supporting material that can improve the tension capacity. Because of the steel is very good in tension, the steel bar was embedded in concrete at the tensile stress area to obtain the full capacity of the steel bar as reinforcement.

Effects of Trans-Polyoctylene Rubber in Polypropylene/Recycled Acrylonitrile Butadiene/Rice Husk Powder Composites

Composites of polypropylene/Acylonitrile butadiene rubber/Rice husk powder/ (PP/NBRr/RHP) with and without trans-polyoctylene rubber (TOR) were prepared, and the effects of trans-polyoctylene rubber were investigated. By using rice husk powder of 150300μm, five different compositions of PP/NBRr/RHP composites (i.e.100/0, 80/20, 70/30, 60/40 and 40/60 phr) were prepared in an internal mixer at 180 °C and 50 rpm rotor speed. The results indicate that the incorporation of TOR improved the tensile properties of PP/NBRr/RHPcomposites. Scanning electron microscopy of the fractured surfaces proved that TOR promoted good adhesion between the PP-NBRr matrices and RHP.Keywords: Polypropylene; Trans-polyoctylene rubber; Rice husk powder; Acrylonitrile Butadiene rubber; composite