Abstract

The effects of particulate cow bone additions on the mechanical properties and tribological behaviour of cow bone reinforced polyethylene composite was evaluated to assess the possibility of using it as a new material for engineering applications. Cow bone particles reinforced with recycled low density polyethylene (RLDPE) was prepared by varying the cow bone particles from 5-25 wt% with 5 wt% interval using compression method. The mechanical properties of the developed composite were investigated. Scanning electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the surface morphology of the composites. Wear of the composites were conducted using pin on disc machine by varying speed, time and load. Factorial design experiment was conducted as per standard 1.8 orthogonal arrays, with a view to investigate which of the design parameters; speed, load and time most significantly affect the dry sliding wear on the composites. The results revealed that tensile strength and the hardness values of the composite increases with increased in wt% cow bone particles while the impact strength and rigidity decreased. The study revealed that the additions of the particulate cow bone have the most significant main effect on the wear behaviour of the composite while the interactions between load and time has no significant. Hence, cow bone particles can be use to improve the strength and wear properties of RLDPE.

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