Wahab Saidin

Effect of Powder Loading and Binder Materials on Mechanical Properties in Iron-ABS Injection Molding Process

This paper presents the development of a new polymer matrix composite (PMC) feedstock material by the injection molding machine. The material consists of iron powder filled in an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and surfactant powder (binder) material. In this study, the effect of powder loading and binder content on the mechanical properties was investigated experimentally. The detailed formulations of compounding ratio by Brabender Mixer and injection molding machine of the sample specimen was used with various combinations of the new PMC material. Based on the result obtained, it was found that, higher powder loading of iron filler affected the hardness, tensile and flexural strength of PMC material. With 32% iron powder loading in ABS composites increase the flexural force, maximum stress and force of PMC material through an injection molding process.

Development of Wood-Based Composites Material for 3D Printing Process

This paper presents the development of wood-based composites material for 3D Printing process. The aim is to characterize the waste material from wood powder (WD) as an alternative material and low cost production for rapid prototyping product. The powder blends containing wood powder (90-120µm) with commercial ZP102 material from Z Corporation was used as the composite material. The materials were mechanically blended to produce composition of WD/ZP102(vol.%) 25:70, 50:50 and 75:25 respectively. The material was successfully processed on 3D printers machine, to produce three-dimensional components and followed by post-treatment with ZMax solution to enhance the mechanical properties. The mechanical properties, dimensional accuracy and surface quality of the components were evaluated and the results were compared with the standard ZP102 material. The result shows that the mechanical properties improved with the increased of wood powder content up to 50 (vol.%). However, dimensional accuracy and surface quality were decreased as the wood content increased. Further work on powder preparation is continued for surface quality improvement.

Evaluation on the Photoabsorber Composition Effect in Projection Microstereolithography

This paper presents a research progress on composition photoabsorber effect the solidification time and layer thickness of 3D structures fabrication using Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) projector as energy light source to initiate the photoreactive polymer. The polymer based material with composition of 1,6-Hexanediol dicrylate, Phenylbis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)- phosphine oxide with varied Sudan I concentrations was used to build 3D structures. The structure was fabricated using a three different photo absorber composition of Sudan I then the photoreactive polymer solidification phe¬nomena was evaluated. Based on the result obtained, higher exposed time of the photo absorber will reduced the surface roughness values and increased the solidification layer time. This work represents that photo absorber composition solution gave a different characteristics for 3D microstructure fabrication.

Producing Paper Using Pineapple Leaf Fiber

Experiments using pineapple leaf fiber as raw material in paper production have been conducted to assess the advantages in terms of mechanical properties, especially tensile strength, tearing strength and thickness of the paper. In this paper, samples of pineapple leaf fiber is mixed with a recycle newspapers in different composition of which is, 25%, 35%, 45%, 55%, 65% and 75% pineapple leaf fibers mixed with 75%, 65%, 55% , 45%, 35% and 25% of the recycle newspapers. The mixtures have been tested for mechanical properties and thickness by using the Universal Testing Machine (UTM) and micrometers. The results from tensile and tearing tests were then compared with data obtained from previous experiments. Through the observation of the experiment, it was found that the data obtained with similar experiments conducted previously. The results have been proved in tears testing and stress testing. Tearing test data shows that the longer the beating time imposed on the mixture, the lower the tearing force required to tear the paper samples. On the other hand, the tensile test results shows, the longer time beating the bear on the mix, the higher the tensile force should be imposed on the sample. The experimental results can help in the formulation of the pineapple leaf fiber-based paper production in accordance to the usage.

Improvement of Mechanical Properties of Polycaprolactone (PCL) by Addition of Nano-Montmorillonite (MMT) and Hydroxyapatite (HA)

For many years, researcher have focused on developing a medical part of human body from polymer as to replace metal. This report described the mechanical characteristic of biodegradable Polycaprolactone (PCL) blend with nanoMontmorillonite (MMT) and Hydroxyapatite (HA). The amount of nanoMMT is varies from 2 to 4 by weight % meanwhile the amount of HA is fixed to 10 by weight percentage (wt %). The addition of nanoMMT and HA filler is to tune and indirectly improve the mechanical properties of PCL. These are proven by carrying out the tensile, and also flexural test for samples which is injected from injection molding machine. Both the tensile and flexural test are conducted using Shimadzu AG-I Unversal Testing Machine with 10kN capacity. From the analysis it is found that overall PCL/MMT/HA composites gives better result in both tensile and flexural analysis compare to PCL/MMT composite. PCL/MMT/HA composite with 2 wt% of MMT and 10 wt% of HA have indicated the highest tensile modulus, meanwhile PCL/MMT/HA composite with 4 wt% MMT and 10 wt% HA have plotted the highest flexural strength and modulus value.

Viscosity Effect on Piezoelectric Actuated Nozzle in Generating Micro Droplet

nkjet printing has proven to be a promising and flexible process methodology for low cost and drop-on-demand pattern formation in small-scale devices with a functional material. In this paper, micro droplet deposition using 80 micron diameter nozzle with micro piezoelectric printhead was investigated using a mixture of three fluids, distilled water (DW) and solutions of two different percentage of glycerine (G) as an operating fluids. The droplet formation capability and stability was studied according to the influence of pulse amplitude, dwell time and fluid viscosity. The results show that the optimal drop velocity to obtain a stable printing range from 0.5 ~1.5 ms-1 which corresponds to pulse amplitude range of 25 to 100V and dwell time 15 to 35 μs. Respectively droplet formation and dispensing performance give benefit in dispensing application and build a solid background to inkjeting functional polymer material.

The Effect of Laser Cutting Parameters on the Aerospace Structure Panel of CFRP Composite Material

This paper presents a research progress on the laser cutting characteristic of the carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites material for the aerospace structure panel. The CFRP is a high performance material and become one of the most important materials in the aerospace industry. The current machining techniques used by the aerospace composites manufacturing for cutting and trimming process have created some quality issues such as fiber pulled out and delamination. The use of laser cutting technology has shows promising advantages. However, the Laser cutting represents the interaction between laser beam and the CFRP composites, that produce heat affected zone (HAZ), kerf width and taper angle. Thermal damage is a direct consequence of the large difference in thermal properties of the carbon fiber and the polymer matrix. Therefore, the effect of laser cutting parameters such as pulse energy, pulse repetition rate, cutting speed and pulse duration need to be taken into consideration. A 300W Pulsed Nd:YAG laser machine was used in the experiment and successfully cut or trim the 1.5mm thickness of the CFRP component. The results also showed that the pulse energy and pulse repetition rate gave the most significant effect on the cutting characteristic in particular of kerf width, HAZ and taper angle.

New Lightweight Construction Material: Cellular Mat Using Recycled Plastic

Applications of lightweight construction materials enable the design and construction in challenging, difficult and demanding scenarios. Construction materials with enhanced stiffness as in sandwich panels, large portable structures and floating foundations are examples of such materials. The advent of cellular structure technology has actively introduced innovation and enabled design and construction, meeting engineering requirements such as in the construction of the body of air crafts. Cellular mat structures present in the minimum, triple benefits in being lightweight, load sharing and minimising non-uniform deformation. This paper further explores the use of recycled plastic waste as the base material for an innovative geomaterial. The combination of cellular structure, mat structure and use of recycled waste material is a desirable development in manufacturing. Paper also outlines the techno social benefit of adopting such material in construction. Other application-specific benefits related to cellular mats are those like noise reduction, energy absorption, thermal insulation, mechanical damping. This paper specifically presents the development of a new multifunctional lightweight material is been proposed as an invective innovation for highway construction on challenging ground condition.

The Effect of Laser Focal Point Distance on Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) Cutting Performance

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) composites as high performance material in aerospace industry. The application of laser technology to cut the CFRP shows promising advantages. The present study focuses the effect of focal point distance on the kerf width, HAZ, taper angle and morphology surfaces when cutting CFRP using laser process. Experiments have been conducted on CFRP and microstructure of the cross-section of the HAZ during cutting was analyzed. The results showed that focal position gave a significant effect on the cutting characteristic.

Integrated System for Denture Design and Manufacturing

This paper presents an integrated approach for denture (dental prosthesis) manufacturing process by integrating information from patient denture requirement, design flow and manufacturing activities. The aim is to produce a removable complete denture with high degree of precision, good quality of denture and rapid fabrication process. The method includes data acquisition, design process and teeth assembly of the denture that reduces the dependency on experienced craftsmen and reduces the time consumption in denture processing chain. The system also aims to reduce patient visiting times and consequently reduces the expenses. The basic system has been developed at the Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UTHM with the cooperation of the School of Dental Sciences, USM and Klinik Pergigian Batu Pahat, Johor. By implementing the integrated system, denture can be produced using centralize manufacturing facilities of several dental clinics and provide denture replacement services which can be delivered in 24hrs. Although the basic system has been tested and found very satisfactory result, there are development works and improvements are still needed in order for the system ready for commercialization.