PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF RECYCLED LDPE/ PERIWINKLE (TURRITELA COMMUNIS) SHELL PARTICULATE COMPOSITE

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Department of Engineering

ABSTRACT
The production and characterization of recycled LDPE/Periwinkle (TurritellaCommunis) shell particulate composite was carried out with a view to addressing part of environmental pollution problem. Periwinkle shells were conditioned with 5 wt% NaOH for a period of 2 hrs, after which the shells at three different particle sizes, 106μm, 75μm and 53μm were combined with recycled low density polyethylene in a two roll mill compounder at a temperature of 150ºC and time of 5 minutes to produce the composite. The samples were tested for, impact, tensile, hardness and flexural strengths, water absorption, the density and microstructures were also examined and then the soil degradability test was carried out for a period of two weeks at a depth of 10cm. The 75μm particle size exhibited the best impact strength at 25 wt% filler with a value of 1720 J/m. The best tensile strength was obtained at 106μm and 5 wt% filler with a value of 9.50 Mpa. There was a 3.3% increase in hardness for 75μm at 20 wt% and a 26.67% increase in hardness for the 106μm at 25 wt%, while a 3.3% increase in hardness at 15 wt% was obtained for the 53μm particle size representing the highest hardness for individual particle sizes considered. The flexural strength obtained for the three particle sizes presented an increase as filler content increased beyond 5 wt%, while the 75μm particle size presented the best flexural strength 25.51 Mpa at 10 wt% filler. There was an increase in water absorption at all particle sizes considered, with the 75μm particle size at 25 wt% filler with a rate of 3.77%, being the highest, while the least was at 15 wt% filler with no water absorption observed between 24 hrs to 120 hrs. Density decreased with filler increase and increased with particle size. There was no degradation for the period considered except at 15 wt% for the 53μm particle size. The results of the micro-structural analysis showed that the fractured surfaces are more of a ductile than of brittle nature, and there is a uniform distribution of filler in the matrix