Mechanical Properties of a Bio-Composite Produced from Two Biomaterials: Polylactic Acid and Brown Eggshell Waste Fillers

Duncan Cree (), Stephen Owuamanam and Majid Soleimani
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Duncan Cree: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
Stephen Owuamanam: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
Majid Soleimani: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada

Waste, 2023, vol. 1, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: An option to reduce the exploitation and depletion of natural mineral resources is to repurpose current waste materials. Fillers are often added to polymers to improve the properties and lower the overall cost of the final product. Very few studies have assessed the use of waste brown eggshell powder (BESP) as filler in polylactic acid (PLA). The addition of mineral fillers in a polymer matrix can play an important role in the performance of a composite under load. Therefore, tailoring the amount of filler content can be a deciding factor as to which filler amount is best. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of brown eggshells compared to conventional limestone (LS) powder on the mechanical properties of PLA composites. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to carry out the statistical analysis on the average values of each composite mechanical property tested. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to view if there were any differences in the fractured surfaces. Overall, the LS performed marginally better than the BESP fillers. The highest ultimate tensile and ultimate flexural strengths for eggshell composites containing 32 µm fillers had values of 48 MPa (5–10 wt.% BESP) and 67 MPa (10 wt.%. BESP), respectively. Both the tensile and flexural modulus improved with filler contents and were highest at 20 wt.% with values of 4.5 GPa and 3.4 GPa, respectively. The Charpy impact strength decreased for all filler amounts. SEM micrographs identified changes in the fractured surfaces due to the additions of the filler materials. The ANOVA results showed statistically significant differences for the composite materials. After five weeks of soaking in distilled water, the composites containing 20 wt.% BESP fillers had the highest weight gain. The study demonstrated that waste brown eggshells in powdered form can be used as a filler in PLA composites.

Keywords: conventional limestone; waste brown eggshells; polylactic acid; mechanical properties; bio-composite (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q16 Q18 Q2 Q20 Q23 Q24 Q25 Q28 Q3 Q31 Q38 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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