The thermal and acoustic isolation properties of unsaturated polyester composites reinforced by palm waste filler have been experimentally investigated. The composites have been prepared using hand lay-up technique with filler weight fraction of (0%, 3%, 5% and 7%). Three types of palm waste that (Date seed, old leaf bases and petiole) were ground and sieved separately to produce the filler with particle size ≤ 400µm. Thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat capacity were examined using Hot Disk thermal analyses. The acoustic isolation property examined in a sound-insulated box. The experimental results show that the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the composite specimens reinforced by seed or old leaf bases filler increased with increasing the fillers weight fraction. While increasing the petiole filler decreased the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity by 19% and 40% respectively at 5% weight fraction as compared with a pure unsaturated polyester material. So, the composite reinforced with petiole filler has improved the thermal insulation properties. The composites samples reinforced with palm waste show higher sound absorption in compared to the pure unsaturated polyester material. The sound absorption properties of composite reinforced with 7% old leaf bases filler improved by 15% and 23% at low and high frequency respectively rather than of pure unsaturated polyester material.
The present research aimed to study the effect of distilled water on impact strength for unsaturated polyester composites reinforced with E-glass fibers with volume fraction 35%, all samples were prepared by using hand lay up technique. Unsaturated polyester resin was used as matrix for the reinforced materials that consist of artificial glass fibers (woven roving) with directional (0,90) and chopped glass fibers with the random direction. The samples were cutting with measurement (60 x 6) mm and the sample thickness dependent on the number of layers of glass fibers. The impact tests are carried out on samples under the influence of normal conditions (laboratory temperature). The results and examinations for these samples shows acceptable improvement in impact strengths of the matrix was observed after addition of glass fibers, to explain the effect of water on impact properties, the samples immersion in water for (50) days. The results show that as the exposure time increased the impact strength of samples increase.
In this research we have prepared a composite material by using Vegetative Cellulose Fibers of Cannabis (Cann F) to reinforced a matrix of Unsaturated Polyester (UP) resin. This kind of fibers is distinguished by good properties such as high tensile strength, low elongation, thermal resistance and low cost. The impact strength was tested by using Charpy method for three materials (UP resin), composite (UP / Cann F) and composite (UP/Glass F). The results indicated that the fracture energy (Uc) decreased as the notch depth (a) increased on the sample from (0.7 mm) up to (4.9 mm). However, the fracture energy increased as the temperature of the composite increased for different temperatures of (0, 35, 50 and 75) oC. It was noticed that the Material toughness (Gc) has been improved significantly, where in case of the composite (UP /Cann F), the improvement of (Gc) was from (2.45 kJ/m2 ) to (14.5 kJ/m2 ) and it was (17 kJ/m2 ) for composite (UP/GF) has been measured at (35) oC. When those composite materials (UP/Cann F) exposed to humidity for a period of (72 hrs) without immersion, their properties did not change, hence the effects are not of chemical but of physical nature. The conclusion, the difference between the toughness of the material (Gc) for the reinforced composites by Cannabis and E-glass fibers for all temperatures is not large, so this encourage the development of Cannabis fiber reinforced composites in the future to abundance, and low cost for industrial investment