TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of date pit–polystyrene thermoplastic heat insulator material
T2 - Mechanical properties
AU - Hittini, Waseem
AU - Abu-Jdayil, Basim
AU - Mourad, Abdel Hamid
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Emirates Center for Energy and Environment Research at the UAE University (Project # 31R041).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - In this work, an investigation of the mechanical behavior of thermoplastic polystyrene (PS) composites containing date pit powder (DPP) is presented. DPP waste contents ranging from 0 wt% to 50 wt% were used to prepare the PS composite. The experimental results revealed that the addition of DPP to the PS matrix decreased the compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths and moduli of the composite. The reduction in the composite’s compressive strength was minimal with filler contents up to 30%. The DPP-PS composites demonstrated superior tensile strength (1.12–0.34 MPa), compressive strength (11.58–2.31 MPa), and flexural strength (21.10–2.37 MPa) when compared with the commonly used insulating materials and comparable to some construction materials. The negative impact of DPP on the mechanical properties of PS was attributed to the agglomeration of the natural fillers creating stress concentration points, as well as poor compatibility between the fillers and the PS matrix. Alkaline treatment of DPP with sodium hydroxide solution enhanced marginally the compressive strength (by 4.2%) and effectively the tensile (by 190%) and flexural strength (by 55%) of all prepared composites. The scanning electron microscopy micrographs demonstrated that the treatment effectively changed the surface roughness of the date pit particles and enhanced the interference between the fillers and the PS matrix. Thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectra of the treated filler indicate that the observed improvement in adhesion was due to removal of hydrophilic components from DPP.
AB - In this work, an investigation of the mechanical behavior of thermoplastic polystyrene (PS) composites containing date pit powder (DPP) is presented. DPP waste contents ranging from 0 wt% to 50 wt% were used to prepare the PS composite. The experimental results revealed that the addition of DPP to the PS matrix decreased the compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths and moduli of the composite. The reduction in the composite’s compressive strength was minimal with filler contents up to 30%. The DPP-PS composites demonstrated superior tensile strength (1.12–0.34 MPa), compressive strength (11.58–2.31 MPa), and flexural strength (21.10–2.37 MPa) when compared with the commonly used insulating materials and comparable to some construction materials. The negative impact of DPP on the mechanical properties of PS was attributed to the agglomeration of the natural fillers creating stress concentration points, as well as poor compatibility between the fillers and the PS matrix. Alkaline treatment of DPP with sodium hydroxide solution enhanced marginally the compressive strength (by 4.2%) and effectively the tensile (by 190%) and flexural strength (by 55%) of all prepared composites. The scanning electron microscopy micrographs demonstrated that the treatment effectively changed the surface roughness of the date pit particles and enhanced the interference between the fillers and the PS matrix. Thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectra of the treated filler indicate that the observed improvement in adhesion was due to removal of hydrophilic components from DPP.
KW - Thermal insulation
KW - compressive strength
KW - date pit
KW - mechanical properties
KW - polystyrene
KW - tensile strength
KW - thermoplastic composite
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U2 - 10.1177/0892705719847242
DO - 10.1177/0892705719847242
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85065318513
SN - 0892-7057
VL - 34
SP - 472
EP - 489
JO - Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials
JF - Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials
IS - 4
ER -